iCamp, Legends and Vampires
by xxiCarlyFanxx
Summary: When Freddie goes camping and he's attacked by something he didn't even know that existed, his life will never be the same. Will he be able to live like he was used to? How will his feelings for a certain blonde girl make it harder for him? SEDDIE! :D
1. Chapter 1: Bad News

**Author's Note: Hello people of the world! =)**

**Okay, please don't ask me where the idea for this fic came from! Because seriously, I don't know! I was in Geography class and then BAM! I had this idea! XD**

**This fic will be totally Seddie, but I had the idea to write an unusual Seddie story! I love the Twilight saga and The Vampire Diaries, so I thought about writing a crossover, but then I decided to write it without the crossover part, just the vampire stuff. So this means that this fic is NOT an iCarlyxTwilight crossover or an iCarlyxTVD crossover! :)**

**Okay, before anything else, I'll just explain some things about the vampires!**

**Well, I based the vampires from this fic on the ones from Twilight and The Vampire Diaries (the books). Here, the vampires are really fast and strong (like on Twilight and The Vampire Diaries) and they don't sleep (like on Twilight). They can make their canine teeth lenghten and turn into fangs (like on The Vampires Diaries) and their eyes are like the Twilight ones, based on their diet (human blood = red / animal blood = golden/ and when they are thirsty = black) and here they don't "sparkle" in the sunlight or die, the sun doesn't do anything to them.**

**Are we clear? If you have any doubt about the vampires please ask! ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, or Twilight, or The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a person with a silly brain! ;P**

**And now, enjoy!**

**:D**

**EDIT (04/15/12): I'm currently rewriting the 10 first chapters of this story, since I made some changes in the vampire species (you can find the correct description starting in chapter 11), and I also found several typos and a few continuity mistakes in those (I'll explain it better in the author's note in chapter 16), so I'm working on fixing those at the moment. If you're reading this, then this is the rewritten first chapter. Every edited chapter will have a note like this one.**

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Chapter 1: Bad News

**Freddie's POV**

It was Thursday night, and I was doing something I absolutely love doing; shooting iCarly with my two best friends, Carly and Sam. We had started doing iCarly about four years ago, when we were still thirteen, and I had never expected it to become something so big. In the beginning, it was just something we did for fun and some people watched online, but the show grew into something a lot bigger than that, and now, we had an average of over one million viewers per webcast. We still did it for fun though, but now it had actually become a part of our lives, and I just couldn't imagine my life without it.

The show started just like usual. Me doing my usual countdown and the two girls hopping in front of the camera to warm up as they waited for my signal.

"In five, four, three, two..." I pointed at them, which meant we were live.

"I'm Carly!" Carly said, smiling at the camera.

"And I'm Sam!" Sam jumped into the shot, smiling as well.

"And this is iCarly!" they said together, and Sam pressed a button on her remote, which made loud cheering sounds echo inside the studio.

Carly and Sam then went on with the show, doing all the funny stuff they usually do. I guess I should have already gotten used all their crazy ideas, but they still manage to surprise me every webcast. I just don't know how they come up with all that stuff, and it all seems just so natural. Well, that might be the reason why they never let me be part of the creative part of iCarly. I can't blame them though; I don't think I'll ever be able to come up with so much funny stuff so naturally like they do.

I found myself laughing along with them during practically the whole show, just like usual. I just had so much fun doing the show, not only because of the show itself, but also because I loved to spend time with Carly and Sam. Yes, you heard me right, I enjoy spending time with Sam as well.

Don't get me wrong, I know Sam can be some kind of a she-devil sometimes, always trying to make my life miserable pretty much every chance she got, but during the past few years, even with all the beatings and name calling from her part, she still managed to get under my skin, and I slowly found myself falling for her. I know I had always said I was in love with Carly, but the truth is that I didn't even know what love was by then. What I felt for Carly was just a crush, and I probably felt that way because she was the only girl that had ever given me any kind of attention by actually being willing to become my friend several years ago. But that crush gradually faded away over the years, and now, I can say it's pretty much gone. I still love Carly, but I guess I could call that fraternal love, since she's like a sister to me.

Sam on the other hand is a very particular case. I confess that if it wasn't for Carly, I would have never made any effort to be around Sam; I'm pretty sure I'd have done the complete opposite. When I first met her, I couldn't describe her in any way that didn't include the words bully, vicious and evil. But even though I'm pretty sure she tried her best to scare me away, I never gave up, and after some time, I found myself finally working up the courage to stand up to her. I guess I can even say our bickering became some sort of game to us.

I don't really know how or when it happened, I just know that I slowly found myself not being able to imagine my life without Sam in it. I began to look forward to the break between classes and to iCarly rehearsals, those being the times I'd get to see her, considering that back then I didn't hang out with Carly and Sam as often as I do now. I even started going over to Carly's place more often, since Sam practically lived there. I started noticing things about her I had never paid attention to; from how beautiful her deep blue eyes are to the tiny little freckle she has on her right cheek. And I also started to watch her more closely, learning things about her I could have never imagined; I didn't even know her favorite color until a few months ago, when Carly told me it was purple.

I found myself unable to look away whenever she smiled, which never failed to send a warm feeling through me, and I just wanted her to never stop smiling. I began to actually ache for her presence; whenever she wasn't around, it was like I felt empty, like something just not felt right. Even when she was calling me names, it just felt amazing to hear her voice. I even started to provoke her a little bit more than I usually did to get her to hit me, just so I'd get her to touch me; her skin leaving some kind of eletric feeling wherever it came in contact with mine.

The memory of the night we shared our first kiss over three years ago became some kind of repetitive dream in my mind during that time. I began to think about it with a frequency that bothered me in the beginning, and I found myself staring at Sam's lips when she wasn't looking more times than I could keep track of; fantasizing about kissing her again and wondering if it would feel just as good as our first kiss did, but I somehow knew that it would feel even better.

Another sign had been the jealousy. I just couldn't bear to watch any guy walking up to Sam to flirt with her or, in some cases, to ask her out. It's no secret that Sam is one of the prettiest girls in that school, and that fact tends to attract the attention of the male population of Ridgeway, especially considering the fact that Sam is considerably famous because of iCarly. Fortunately, not many guys actually have the courage to ask her out, mostly because of Sam's reputation as pretty violent and agressive, and the ones that do never get lucky enough to get a positive answer from her. They are all, as she described, a bunch losers who just wanted someone to make out with and didn't deserve her attention. I couldn't agree more with her.

The day I realized I was in love with her was terrifying to say the least. I had been confused and bothered by how I had begun to feel around her, but I hadn't yet realized the reason for that. When I managed to put all the pieces together, I couldn't find any coherent explanation for that. It was just unbelievable that I, Fredward Benson, had fallen for Samantha Puckett. I still haven't been able to actually understand how it happened, I just know that it did, and now I found myself busy with trying to keep my feelings a secret from Sam and everyone else. I don't even want to think about all the teasing I'd get from her if she ever found out the truth, and I honestly don't feel like having my feelings played with. Sam has made it pretty clear to me and the whole world that she hates me, so I see no point in letting her know what I feel for her, considering I had zero chance of actually being with her someday.

"Sadly, it's time to go," Carly said, pouting at the camera, and Sam did the same.

"But don't be sad. We'll be here next week right here at iCarly dot com!" Sam said, smiling once again. God, I never got tired of that smile.

"Give a duck a bubble bath!"

"And hug a hobo!"

"Bye!"

"See ya!"

The two girls waved at the camera, and I walked back to my cart.

"And we are clear!" I announced, just like I did every time we finished a webisode of iCarly. "Great show girls!"

"Thanks," Carly said, smiling.

"Let's go downtairs, I'm starving!" Sam said, already making her way toward the studio door.

"Surprise, surprise!" I said, just to provoke her a bit, and she glared at me as she opened the studio door and stepped into the hallway.

"Shut up, Freddork!" Sam told me, sounding annoyed. I rolled my eyes at her, but as soon as she turned around, I couldn't help but smile lightly as Carly and I walked out of the studio and toward the stairs, headed to the first floor of the Shay apartment.

**Sam's POV**

As soon as I reached the first floor, I darted to the kitchen, going straight to the fridge, and I wasn't disapointed with what I found there. I reached forward and grabbed a plate of ham from inside the fridge, before closing the door shut and walking into the living room, where Carly and Freddie were already waiting for me, sitting on the couch. I sat down next to Carly, already chewing my ham. I smiled to myself, wondering how something could taste so good. Man, how I love ham...

I was forcefully broken out of my ham-flavored trance by a loud and frantic knock on the front door. Carly was about to stand up and go answer it, but she had no time to do it; in less than two seconds, the door was pushed open and Mrs. Benson walked in smiling.

"Freddie! I have great news!" she exclaimed, seeming unusually happy. I don't know why, but I had a bad feeling about this...

"What now?" Freddie asked, sounding afraid of what he might hear.

"Do you remember what I told you last week? That I wanted to send you somewhere safe and clean where you could spend the next two weeks because you won't have school?" she asked, and I saw a look of horror cross Freddie's face. I could easily tell he was going through a list of the places he thought his psycho mother might send him to in his mind, and by the look on his face, none of them were good.

"Yeah..." he replied, souding like he didn't really want to hear the rest.

"I found a place! It's a camp I read about on one of my parenting magazines! I just called them and made your registration! I'll take you to the bus station tomorrow right after lunch!" She seemed so happy with herself that it was even hard to believe.

"What?" he exclaimed, standing up from the couch. "But you can't just-" Crazy cut Freddie off.

"No 'buts', young man! You're coming with me right now to pack your stuff!" With that, she grabbed him by the wrist, before pulling him out of the apartment and shutting the door behind them.

I found myself unable to say or do anything after hearing what Freddie's mom had said. I guess I just coudn't really make myself register the idea that Freddie would be away for two whole weeks at some camp full of people just as crazy as his mother. That thought made me panic a little on the inside, but I knew there was just nothing I could do about it.

I know it might sound impossible and all, but since the night we kissed for the first time over three years ago, I've found myself developing feelings for Freddie. But I've been doing my best to keep it a secret from everyone, especially him. He's already made it pretty clear since the day I first met him that he loves Carly, and I just don't feel like being rejected. But even though I try to keep up a facade to everyone, saying teasing and snarky comments whenever Freddie hit on Carly in front of me, it still hurt me deeply to see him running after her like a lost puppy. The thought of the two of them together sickened me so much that it actually made me feel like puking up blood.

If I had had a choice, I wouldn't have let myself fall for him, but there isn't anything I could do now, and I guess there never was. I guess people are right when they say that love is blind, because there's just no other explanation for me actually having feelings for Freddie.

**Carly's POV**

After the door closed behind Freddie and his mother, silence took over the living room for a few seconds, but I soon started talking to Sam. But weirdly, she didn't answer me; she just kept staring ahead at the television with a blank look in her eyes, as if her mind was somewhere far away from here.

"Sam?" I called her name, but she didn't reply; I'm pretty sure she didn't even hear it. "Sam, can you hear me?" I asked, a little louder this time, but once again, she remained silent. "SAM!" I exclaimed, losing my patience. I just hated to be ignored.

"What? Huh? I didn't do it, I swear!" she finally answered, jumping a little. She looked around for a moment, clearly confused, as if I had pulled her out of some kind of trance.

"What were you thinking about?" I asked her, suddenly amused by her weird behavior, but curious about it nonetheless.

"Thinking? Who said I was thinking about something?" she asked me, laughing nervously.

"Well, you were just sitting there, staring off into space. If you weren't thinking, then what were you doing?"

"I, uh..." She hesitated for a moment, clearly not knowing what to say. I was about to question her again, but Spencer suddenly ran into the living room, coming from his bedroom.

"Hey guys! Guess what just happened!" He was smiling and even bouncing a little.

"What?" I asked, smiling at the sight. He seemed to be extremely happy, which could only mean that he had some kind of great news to share.

"The owner of the Groovy Smoothie just called me! He wants me do make a sculpture of a gigantic smoothie cup!" His smile got even wider after telling us this, even if that had seemed to be impossible a few seconds ago.

"How much is he gonna pay you?" Sam asked, clearly amused by Spencer's behavior.

"Four hundred bucks!" he said, doing a happy dance.

"Nice!" Sam commented, smiling.

"Yeah, Spencer, that's awesome!" I said.

"I know!" He made a brief pause. "I gotta go take a shower!" he said suddenly, before racing back into the hallway and walking inside the bathroom, closing the door shut behind him.

I couldn't help but chuckle at my brother's randomness, but I soon remembered the conversation Sam and I were having before Spencer interrupted us, so I turned to Sam once again, who had, for some reason, stood up from the couch.

"Uh... Where are you going?" I asked her, frowning.

"It's already late, I gotta go home," she told me as she crossed the living room and walked toward the front door.

"But wait! What about-" Sam quickly cut me off after opening the front door.

"Bye Carls!" she said, and the front door closed shut behind her.

**Sam's POV**

When I was finally out of that apartment, I felt so thankful to Spencer for interrupting our conversation in that exact moment. I knew I wouldn't be able to avoid Carly's questions forever, and I had secretly been hoping that something would happen just so I'd at least be able to change the subject or get out of there. I just didn't feel ready to tell Carly the truth, or anyone else in the world for that matter. I was still having a hard time coping with it on my own. I was still pretty confused with all this; I wasn't sure what to do or even what to think, and I didn't need people telling me that I should take a chance or something, just like I knew Carly would if she ever found out the truth.

I still found myself wondering how the hell I ended up in this mess in the first place. I mean, how could a girl like me fall for someone like Freddie? Well, if you know the answer to that one please share it with me, because I'm honestly nowhere close to figuring it out.

**Freddie's POV**

"Mom, I don't want to go to that camp!" I told my mother for what I guessed was the twentieth time in the last fifteen minutes. She had told me about all the things she had read about that camp, and trust me, you wouldn't want to go there as well if you were me. I'm pretty sure the camp was like my mother's personal heaven, but it sounded pretty much like hell to me. There, they had classes and lectures about safety and cleanness, some of which I'm pretty sure my mother has already given me. All they served was healthy food, and you could bring a maximum of one technological item, but the use of it would be limited and supervised. And on top of it all, I'm pretty sure the most exciting thing they'd let us do that was walk from our cabin to the cafeteria.

"You have to, Freddiebear! I'm sure you'll love it! You'll learn a lot of fun things there!" she told me as she walked into my room, carrying my empty travel bag she had stuffed inside the hallway closet several months ago, and laid it on my bed.

"What do you mean by 'fun things'?" I asked, fearing what the answer would be.

"Well, you'll learn how to properly eat using a fork without hurting yourself; how to walk fast without tripping or falling, and many other interesting and cool things!" she told me, and I let out a desparate sigh. This just could not be happening.

"Please tell me this is just a joke!" I pleaded, but somehow I already knew what her answer would be.

"Of course it's not a joke, dear!" she said, sounding surprised by my question. "Now be a good boy and pack your things! The list of things you can't take with you to the camp is right there on your desk," she told me, before walking toward the door of my room.

"Well, so instead of great news, you should have said bad news," I muttered under my breath, and much to my surprise, my mother heard me.

"What was that?" she asked me, suddenly turning around.

"Nothing," I replied quickly, and then walked over to my closet, pretending that I was looking for the things I'd take to the camp.

My mother eyed me suspiciously for a moment, but soon walked out of my room. As soon as she was gone, I walked over to my bed and let myself fall onto it, letting out a heavy sigh. I tried to think of a way to change my mother's mind, so she'd let me stay here in Seattle instead of going away to that camp, but I knew just how stubborn my mother could be, and deep down, I knew there was no way I'd get out of this one.

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**Author's Note: Soooooo, what did you think?**

**The vampire stuff will come soon, I promise, I just want to explain how everything happened! ;)**

**And now..**

**Review, review, review! ;D**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**

**:D**


	2. Chapter 2: Farewell

**Author's Note: Hello people of the world! =)**

**To everyone who read and/or added this story to favorites or alerts, thank you all so much! And I'd like to say a special thanks to discostick0shalala! Thank you so much for your review! It made me really, REALLY happy! =D**

**Okay, in the last author's note, I forgot to tell you all something about the vampires: They are venomous like the ones in Twilight. When they bite, if they stop and let the venom spread, the transformation starts and during the three days that follow, the person feels like she/he is burning until the transformation is complete. When the transformation is over, the pain stops and the person is a vampire. And when the person has been a vampire for less than a year, she/he is a newborn (like in Twilight).**

**Are we clear? =)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, or Twilight, or The Vampire Diaries!**

**:D**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 04/28/12**

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Chapter 2: Farewell

**Freddie's POV**

"Mom, do I really need to go to that camp?" I asked for what I guessed was the hundredth time in the last two hours. I still hadn't fully accepted the fact that I'd be spending the next two weeks in some kind of education camp full of freaks. The single thought of it already made me panic to the point where I became a little bit irrational, which was probably the explanation as to why I somehow made myself believe that if I managed to be annoying enough by asking my mother that same question over and over again, maybe I'd make her change her mind. Yeah, I know I had very little chances of succeeding, but I couldn't think of anything else to do.

"Freddiebear, of course you do! Seattle is a very dangerous place for you right now!" she told me, and I couldn't help but frown at her. What the hell was she talking about?

"And why is that?" I found myself asking, a questioning eyebrow raised at her. I just didn't get what there was of so dangerous in Seattle at the moment.

"Dear, I'm just doing what's best for you!" she said, as if she thought I'd just drop the subject.

"But mom-" I was about to question her again, but she quickly cut me off.

"Fredward Benson, I've already made a decision! You are going to that camp, and nothing you say or do will change my mind!" she told me in that parental tone she rarely used with me, but whenever she did, it left no room for discussion.

I sighed quietly to myself, sending another glance toward the traveling bag that lay on my bed. I still couldn't believe this was actually happening, but I guess there was no way I'd manage to convince my mother to not send me to that camp.

But what annoyed me the most about all this was that she apparently didn't want to tell me why exactly she wanted to send me there.

"Now let's get going, or else we're gonna be late!" my mother said, grabbing my bag before I even had the chance to and walking out of my room. I took a deep breath before hesitantly following her to the front door of the apartment.

**Sam's POV**

I had two pretty good reasons not to go over to Carly's apartment today.

The first one was obvious. Carly would sure question me about what had happened yesterday as soon as I got there, and I honestly wasn't in the mood for that, even though I knew that not showing up today didn't mean she'd just forget about it. Carly wasn't the one to forget about stuff like that, and I knew she wouldn't leave me alone until I told her the truth, or at least until she finally realized that I wasn't planning on telling her anything.

The second one was that I didn't feel like watching Freddie leave knowing that he would only be back in two weeks. But I also wanted to say goodbye to him before he left, and somehow that part of me ended up winning the fight. So now here I was, standing before Carly's front door, mentally preparing myself for what was about to happen. After taking a deep breath and telling myself to man up already, I pushed the door open without even bothering to knock and walked in, only to find Carly sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Hey, I was beginning to think you weren't gonna show up!" Carly told me as soon as she caught the sight of me.

I shrugged in response and flopped down on the couch right next to her. "Yeah, I... I thought my mom was going to give me a ride here, but I ended up having to walk," I told her, and it wasn't exactly a lie. I went to my mother's room this morning intending to ask her for a ride, but instead of the sleeping form I was expecting to find lying on her bed, I found a note saying that she had gone out with her latest boyfriend last night and wouldn't be back until after lunch. But I hesitated so much before leaving the house, having an internal debate with myself about whether or not I should really show up here today, that I ended up getting here a lot later than I had thought I would.

"Oh..." she replied simply, and silence engulfed us for a few seconds.

For a short moment, I actually thought she had somehow forgotten about what had happened yesterday, until she suddenly turned to me and opened her mouth to speak again. But before any word could escape her lips, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a visibly upset Freddie walked in.

"Hey," he greeted us with absolutely no hint of enthusiasm in his voice as he closed the front door shut behind him.

"Hey, why do you look so sad?" Carly asked him.

"Because I don't want to go to that stupid camp," he said, the volume of his voice dropping a little, which made me assume that his mother was just outside the door, waiting for him in the hallway. "And to make it even worse, it's a camp of education!"

I didn't pay attention to what Carly said in return, but I could tell she was trying to convince Freddie that the camp couldn't be as bad as it seemed to be. I just couldn't help but stare at him for a moment, just like I caught myself doing pretty often. He was just so gorgeous I sometimes found myself unable to take my eyes off him.

After a few seconds, Spencer burst into the living room to say goodbye to Freddie and wish him good luck, saying that he had looked the camp up online, and that by what he had read, Freddie would need all the luck in the world.

That clearly didn't make Freddie feel any better.

When he was done saying goodbye to Spencer, he hugged Carly - a hug that, in my opinion, lasted way too long. She told him to keep us informed about what was going on in the camp, and after he promised her that he would send us an e-mail everyday, he turned to me.

"So, uh... Bye," Freddie said, stuffing his hands in his jeans pockets as he stood right in front of me. It was clear that he felt just as awkward as I did.

"Yeah... Bye," I replied, not able to find anything else to say. I shifted my weight awkwardly from one leg to the other, wondering if the situation could even be more awkward, and coming to the conclusion that it couldn't.

If only I was right.

"Oh, c'mon! You guys can do better than that!" Carly said suddenly, and we both looked at her, frowning. "Hug! Hug! Hug! Hug!" She repeated it over and over again, clapping her hands together everytime she said it. I found myself glaring at her, hoping that she'd get the message, but when Spencer joined her, I knew they wouldn't stop until they got what they wanted.

Freddie and I looked back at each other, now feeling even more awkward than before, neither one of us wanting to be the one to initiate the hug. Finally, Freddie took a step forward and wrapped his arms loosely around me. I didn't even hesitate on responding to the hug, wrapping my own arms around his neck. Even though the hug was pretty awkward at first, I soon found myself melting into Freddie's embrace, and if I had the power to stop time, I'd do it right then and there. Having his arms around me just felt so good that I didn't want to ever let go.

The moment didn't last long though, because I suddenly felt Freddie pulling away from me, and I quickly did the same. I'm pretty sure the hug lasted a lot longer than Carly and Spencer had expected it to, but much to my relief, they didn't have time to comment on it, since the front door was suddenly pushed open and Crazy, I mean, Freddie's mother, walked into the apartment.

"Freddie, hurry up! We're gonna be late!" she exclaimed, and Freddie let out a desperate sigh. I felt so bad for him, but I knew there was nothing I could do to help him get out of this one.

I watched as Freddie took a deep breath and, after quickly saying goodbye to all of us once again, he followed his mother out the front door.

As soon as the door closed shut behind the two, Spencer vanished back into his room and I walked over to the kitchen to get something to eat. I opened the frigde and found my delicious ham waiting for me. But just as I was about to close the refrigerator door, Carly asked me if I could get her a cup of iced tea. So after about a minute, I flopped back down on the couch right next to her holding a plate full of ham in my left hand and a cup of iced tea in the other.

"Here you go," I said, handing Carly the cup.

"Thank you," she said, taking the cup from my hand and slowly sipping her iced tea. I began eating my ham, my eyes then settling on the TV screen right in front of me. "So..."

"What?" I asked, hoping that she wouldn't bring what had happened yesterday up.

"You didn't tell me what you were thinking about yesterday," she said, and I paused for a moment, wondering how I should respond to that.

"Uh... Yeah, I didn't," I said finally, doing my best to sound like I was actually interested in what was happening on whatever Carly had been watching before I got here.

"Well, aren't you going to tell me?" Carly asked, sounding slightly impatient.

"Uh... Actually, I don't remember what it was," I lied, biting my bottom lip as I hoped she'd fall for it.

"You don't remember what you were thinking about?" Carly asked me, sounding like she thought she hadn't heard me right.

"Yeah, that's what I said," I replied, nodding lightly, as if it would convince her that I was telling her the truth, but I knew that lying to her was completely pointless. Carly was my best friend, and she could tell when I was lying better than anyone else in this world.

"C'mon, Sam! You and I both know that's not true," Carly said, as if she could read my thoughts, and I sighed quietly to myself.

"I'm sorry, Carls, I just... Can we just not talk about it right now?" I found myself asking her, finally making myself tear my eyes away from the TV to meet her gaze.

"Does that mean we'll talk about it some other time?" she asked, eyeing me carefully.

"Yeah, sure," I told her, even though I wasn't sure if I'd ever feel ready to tell her about my feeling for Freddie, and honestly, I don't think I ever would. I couldn't let her know that though, so I did my best to sound convincing. I stared at her expectantly in the seconds that followed, impatiently waiting for her answer. She seemed to be considering it for a moment, and much to my relief, she gave in with a sigh.

"Fine," she finally said. "I'm sorry for questioning you like that, but... you know I don't like not knowing things," she said, sounding as if she felt a bit guilty.

"It's okay," I replied, focusing my eyes back on the television, relieved that Carly had finally agreed to drop that subject - at least for now.

**Carly's POV**

I knew there was something Sam didn't want me to know, but I honestly had no idea what it was. I knew just how stubborn Sam was, so I knew that it wouldn't be easy to make her tell me what it was, but she did promise that she'd tell me someday, and that was already a lot of progress. _Well, I guess the only thing I can do now is wait until I feel it's the right time to bring it up again. _I thought to myself, taking another sip of iced tea from the cup I was holding.

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**Author's Note: Sooooooooooooo, what did you think? =)**

**Okay, like I said before, the vampire stuff will come soon! ;)**

**And now, review! Please!**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**

**:D**


	3. Chapter 3: The Camp

**Author's Note: Hello people of the world! =)**

**To everyone who reviewed and/or added this story to favorites and/or added it to alerts, thank you so very much! You guys are the best! ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, or Twilight, or The Vampire Diaries!**

**And now, enjoy!**

**:D**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 05/08/12**

* * *

Chapter 3: The Camp

**Freddie's POV**

I sighed quietly to myself.

I had no idea how long it had been since I had gotten on this bus, but it had already been way too long for my liking, and I had a feeling that the next two weeks would pass in an even slower pace than this ridiculously long bus ride. I hadn't been able to get my mother to explain to me why the hell she wanted me to go to this stupid camp, but I knew that she couldn't hide it forever.

The bus was crowded with people, all of them from Seattle, but I was sitting alone near the front, while the noisy ones were sitting on the back. I didn't want to seem unfriendly or anything, but I just wasn't in the mood for talking. I was staring out the bus window, my arms folded over my chest as I let my mind wander, thinking about nothing in particular, when I caught sight of someone sitting down on the vacant seat beside me out of the corner of my eye.

I quickly turned my head, only to find a boy about my age with bronze hair occupying the no longer available seat.

"Hey, uh... I'm Mike," he said quickly, as if he could somehow tell that I wasn't entirely pleased with his presence.

"I'm Freddie," I replied simply, before moving my gaze back to the fast passing trees outside my window. I briefly wondered how long it would take for the bus to finally arrive at the camp.

"You know, you look pretty familiar to me. Have we met before?" Mike asked suddenly, but he sounded a bit hesitant, as if he wasn't sure if he really should try to make a conversation happen or not. I couldn't blame him though; it wasn't like I was making any effort to be friendly.

I looked back at him. "I don't think so," I replied, shrugging lightly.

"But I feel like I know you from somewhere... Maybe..." His voice trailed off as he eyed me carefully for a moment, until his face suddenly lit up. "No way! You're that guy from iCarly! The one with the camera!"

"Technical producer," I corrected him, but I wasn't annoyed by his mistake or anything. I had already heard that same thing so many times I guessed I had already gotten used to it.

"I love iCarly! It's hilarious!" Mike said smiling. "And my sister kinda loves you. I bet she won't even believe me when I tell her that I met you here!"

That little exchange ended up being the beginning of a really long and surprisingly pleasant conversation. Mike told me that he had a cousin that used to study at Ridgeway about two years ago, but I had never heard of her, and then began to ask me about iCarly and the girls. He really seemed to love the show, and I could easily tell that he hadn't missed one single webcast, or maybe one or two tops. After a few minutes, I began to actually enjoy talking to him; he was a really nice guy, and pretty funny as well.

The rest of the bus ride seemed to go on a bit faster, but it still took longer than I'd have been happy with. I watched as the bus turned left in an entrance I could have never guessed had been there, since it was pretty much hidden by the trees and bushes that surrounded it, and after about a minute, we finally arrived at the camp. Mike gathered his stuff and after saying that he'd see me later, he walked away. I soon followed him, getting my own bag and walking to the bus door, before stepping out of the bus and onto the rocky ground.

I eyed my surroundings briefly, studying the place I'd spend the next two weeks at. It looked like any other camp, with over twenty cabins spread all over what I could only guess was some kind of huge clearing, surrounded by trees in all directions. I could see a mountain and several cliffs in the distance, and the sky was so blue and clear it made me wonder how far we were from Seattle, since I remembered that when I left the city, the sky was completely clouded.

My eyes then focused on a crowd standing by the biggest cabin in sight, trying to read some kind of list that hung on the wooden wall of the cabin. I could tell I should check it too, since it seemed to be something important, but I decided to wait a few minutes until the crowd dispersed a bit. I had learned my lesson about trying to dive into such a big mob of people after what happened when I tried to sign my name on the list for that six month cruise contest at school over a year ago, which wasn't an experience I'd like to repeat.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait much, and soon enough, I found myself walking toward the three people who remained standing in front of the list. As I ran my eyes through the list, I silently hoped that my name wouldn't be there, because that would mean that I could go home. Keeping that thought in mind, I eyed the list for a moment, until my eyes found the name I didn't want to see there.

**Fredward Benson - Cabin 7C**

I couldn't help but stare at those words for a few seconds, as if by simply glaring at them they'd somehow disappear from sight. Letting out a sigh, I turned around and started looking for my cabin.

I was kinda surprised by how many cabins there were in the camp, but they weren't so big; I couldn't see more than three people fitting inside one of those. I briefly wondered how many people there were here, and who I'd have to share a cabin with.

It took me a little over five minutes, but I soon found the small cabin that had a sign hanging next to the door that said '7C'. I walked up to the door of the cabin and rested my hand on the door handle, before quickly turning it and walking inside the cabin. And as soon as I was inside, I saw a familiar figure standing beside one of the two beds inside the cabin.

"Hey," I said, trying to get Mike's attention.

"Oh, hey!" he replied, looking up from the traveling bag he seemed to be looking for something in. "Looks like we'll be sharing the cabin!"

"Yeah, looks like it," I replied, suddenly feeling glad that I wouldn't have to share it with a complete stranger. I know that I had only met Mike about three hours ago, but sharing a cabin with him was better than sharing it with someone I hadn't even seen before.

Nothing interesting happened that day, and when I went to sleep, I couldn't help but think that maybe things wouldn't be as bad as I was expecting them to be.

And guess what? I was wrong.

I guess I could say that the camp was even worse than I had feared. Honestly, I don't think there's any place as boring as this camp in the whole world. We had to wake up ridiculously early, because, according to the coodinator of the camp - Mrs. Caroline -, eating breakfast after seven o'clock wasn't good for us. After that, we'd always have some kind of lecture about something insanely ridiculous or just plain useless, like how forks could be dangerous and the proper way to eat spaghetti with a spoon. Then came lunchtime, and I swear, the food here couldn't be more awful. I was even beginning to miss the healthy food my mother made me swallow everyday. And the rest of the day was just as horrible; filled with speeches about how to walk fast without falling and other stuff I'd rather erase from my brain.

I had come to love the night, because that was the time we could spend doing things we actually wanted to do. But even though I had my laptop with me, I didn't want to use it too much. There was no way to charge the battery here, so I had to make it last the whole two weeks I'd be here. I calculated the time I could use it per day and came to the conclusion that if I used it for about fifteen minutes a day, the battery would probably last until the day I'd finally get out of this place. And it wasn't like I could use it much more than that, since the use of everything technological was 'monitored and controlled', according to the coordinator.

I had only been in this camp for two days, but I was already beyond tired of this all. I just really wanted to go home and never have to come back here ever again, but I knew that wouldn't be possible anytime soon. Sighing at that thought, I decided to send Carly an e-mail telling her how things were going, so I logged into my e-mail account and composed a quick message.

_Hey Carls,_

_I'm honestly going mad over here! This camp is the most horrible place on earth, and it just keeps getting worse. I've only been here for about two days and I already can't take it anymore!_

_Yeah, I know what you're thinking; that I'm overreacting and that this place can't be that bad. Well, trust me, it can. If you were here, you'd get what I'm saying._

_How are things going over there in Seattle? Keep me informed! I already miss you guys a lot!_

_Freddie._

I truly missed them all very much, and all I wanted right now was to be there in Seattle with my best friend, the girl I love and my other friends, and not here, stuck in this stupid camp. I kinda felt a prisioner or something, since I was in a place I highly disliked and wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. I don't think time had ever passed so slowly; I felt as if it was actually dragging itself by just to tick me off. And no matter how many times I told myself that maybe these next two weeks would end up going by fast, deep down I knew that I shouldn't be getting my hopes up about it.

I just had no idea what was waiting for me back then.

* * *

**Author's Note: Soooooo, what did you think? =P**

**Okay, just one more chapter and then the vampire stuff begins! Yayy! =)**

**I'm so excited for Thursday! The Vampire Diaries will finally premiere on TV here in Brazil! FINALLY! *Happy dance* XP**

**And just 33 more days to New Moon! I'm already freaking out over here! XP**

**And now... review! ;D**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**

**:D**


	4. Chapter 4: Emptiness

**Author's Note: Hello people of the world! =)**

**I'm sorry it took so long, but the new chapter is finally here! =P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, or Twilight, or The Vampire Diaries!**

**And now, enjoy!**

**:D**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 05/10/12**

* * *

Chapter 4: Emptiness

**Sam's POV**

I was trying my best not to think about Freddie; about what he might be going through in that camp full of freaks and just how much I missed him, but I was failing miserably at it. No matter what I did, I just couldn't get him out of my mind. I was honestly trying to think about other things, but I just couldn't ignore the fact that without him around, I felt as if something was missing. I couldn't wait for these two weeks to be over, but time didn't seem to want to cooperate with me; Freddie had only been gone for three days and I already couldn't take it anymore.

I currently found myself sitting on Carly's couch, trying to entertain myself by watching TV, but that wasn't working quite well. I caught myself spacing out more often than actually focusing my attention on the screen, which wasn't helping my current state of trying to keep Freddie out of my mind. And the fact that I had no idea what was going on in the movie I was trying to watch because of my lack of control over my own mind only made things even more difficult.

I soon got tired of just sitting there and stood up from the couch, hoping that even if the TV couldn't keep me entertained, food probably could. So in a matter of seconds, I found myself standing in front Carly's fridge, looking for something to eat, and in no time at all, I was walking back to the living room, carrying a plate full of ham. I flopped back down on the couch and instantly began eating my delicious ham, hoping that it would cheer me up at least a little bit.

Carly came walking down the stairs after a few minutes and walked staright over to where the computer was placed. Everything was silent for a few minutes, during which I let my mind wander once again, until I was abruptly snapped out of my thoughts by Carly calling my name.

"Hey, Sam! Come over here!" she said, turning around on the computer chair to face me.

"Why?" I whined, feeling too lazy to stand up again.

"Freddie sent me an e-mail last night!" she told me, smiling as she spun around on her chair once again, this time to go back to facing the computer.

I could have sworn my heart skipped a beat when I heard Freddie's name, but I did my best not to let my sudden excitement show. I didn't want Carly to know that I missed him so much, since that could lead her to find out things she shouldn't know about. "So?" I asked, trying to sound as uninterested as possible.

"Just come over here and read it with me!" she said, practically whining as well.

That was when I decided that it was safe to go there, since now it wouldn't lead Carly to grow suspicious or anything. "Okay," I said, doing my best to sound like I was only standing up because she was making me do it, and then lazily walked over to where she was.

I sat down on the chair right beside Carly's, resting my gaze on the computer screen right in front of my eyes. Carly didn't even give me chance to read the e-mail though, since she apparently thought that I'd probably space out or just pretend to read it, so she ended up reading it out loud for me, and at each word that I heard, two distinct emotions grew stronger inside me.

I felt insanely happy to hear from Freddie, even if it wasn't much, because now I at least knew that he was okay. But beyond that, the last sentence of the e-mail made my heart flutter with happiness. _'I_ _already miss__ you guys a lot'_, he said. He didn't just say it to Carly; he meant all of us, me included. I had to hold back a smile at the thought that maybe he missed me too, even though I knew that I was probably reading too much into things and that maybe he didn't even think about that when he typed that last part down, but even if I wanted to, I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from growing hopeful.

But at the same time, I also felt angry. I just didn't get why Crazy had sent Freddie to that camp in the first place. According to him, she had told him that Seattle was a dangerous place for him at the moment, whatever that meant, and she had refused to give him any kind of further explanation, which annoyed me deeply. If she was going to send him to such a horrible place, then the least she could do was explain why. But what really pissed me off was the fact that she didn't even seem to care if he was liking that camp or not; which he clearly wasn't.

"Sam!" Carly's voice suddenly snapped me out of my thoughts, and I looked at her, startled. I hadn't realized she had been talking to me.

"Oh, sorry," I said quickly. "What did you just say?"

"Sam, you gotta stop doing that! It's already starting to get annoying!" she told me, clearly irritated.

"Doing what?" I asked, pretending that I had no idea what she was talking about.

"Spacing out like that! You've been like that for days now! And you won't even tell me why!" Carly explained, her voice filled with annoyance, and I held back a desperate sigh. I really wanted her to just drop it; to simply let it go and forget about it, but I knew she wouldn't.

"I didn't space out," I told her, doing my best to sound convincible.

"Then what were you doing?" she asked, impatience clear in her voice.

"I was just... I was just looking at your kitchen!" I said, feeling as if my mind had suddenly gone numb. I just couldn't make myself come up with something believable with Carly eyeing me with so much attention.

"You were looking at my kitchen?" Carly asked, the impatience and annoyance in her voice suddenly replaced by disbelief.

"Yeah, I... I had never realized just how colorful it is," I said, and then mentally slapped myself. Seriously? That was the best thing I could come up with?

Carly frowned briefly at me, before shaking her head lightly, looking like she couldn't believe what she had just heard. "I'm gonna pretend I believe that," she told me, before focusing her attention back on the computer screen.

I felt relieved that she had decided to drop the subject, at least for now, but I made a mental note to myself to be more careful around Carly. I couldn't just keep spacing out like that near her and insist on not telling her what was in my mind. She would get tired of that eventually, and she'd probably bring out the girl code, telling me that best friends shouldn't keep secrets from each other and that whatever it was that I was keeping from her, I could tell her. But the thing was that I couldn't tell her, or at least I was just not ready to do it yet. If I ever feel ready, or if I ever feel the need to get all these feeling I've been keeping bottled up inside me for the past whole year off my chest, then I'll happily tell her the truth, but I couldn't see that happening any time soon.

I just wished Freddie would be here already, so I wouldn't have to worry about spacing out too much around Carly, and also because this emptiness in my chest would finally be gone.

* * *

**Author's Note: Soooo, what did you think? =P**

**This chapter was mainly to show how much Sam misses Freddie, becauce c'mon, that's just too cute. XP I'll try to update this story tomorrow, because I don't want to keep you all waiting for too long. ;P**

**And in the next chapter... The vampire stuff will finally begin! Muahahaha! (That was supposed to be my evil laugh XP).**

**And now... review! ;D**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**

**:D**


	5. Chapter 5: Hiking Legends

**Author's Note: Hello people of the world! =D**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed and/or added this story to favorites and/or added it to alerts! It made me really happy! :D**

**Okay, in the last chapter I told you all that the vampire stuff would start in this chapter. Well, it kinda does, but the vampire stuff everybody is waiting for (and I think you know what I'm talking about ;P) will happen in the next chapter! =P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, or Twilight, or The Vampire Diaries!**

**And now, enjoy!**

**:D**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 05/26/12**

* * *

Chapter 5: Hiking Legends

**Freddie's POV**

The next day went by just like the previous two had - following the exact same routine that seemed to get worse every day. I had no idea how I still managed to be hopeful that maybe things would get better soon and that this place would somehow become less horrible, or at least a little less boring, because honestly, I couldn't see that happening any time soon. The minutes dragged on for hours, and I couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh when I was finally free from all the annoying speeches and could finally have some time alone.

I decided to check my e-mail, hoping that Carly had replied to the message I had sent her the previous night, since that would probably cheer me up a little bit. And when I logged into my e-mail, I smiled when I realized that I had a new message from her.

_Freddie,_

_I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm sure you'll survive this! Just try to look at the bright side of things, it always works for me! :) Well, everything is fine over here. Spencer is working on a new sculpture right now and Sam is sitting on the couch eating fried chicken, so as you can see, everything is normal._

_Keep us informed about how things are going over there! And don't worry, I'm sure these two weeks will go by faster than you think!_

_Carly._

I couldn't help but shake my head lightly and chuckle as I read the e-mail. Carly had always been like that - trying to see the positive side in every situation, but I just couldn't do that. Call me a pessimist if you want, but I didn't think there even was a bright side in the situation I currently found myself in.

I was about to type down a reply, but I ended up not having the chance to even start doing it, since the voice of the coordinator of the camp suddenly filled my ears, coming from the sound box placed just outside the cabin I shared with Mike, which was one of many others that were scattered around the camp.

_"Attention campers. Everyone please go to the camp auditorium. All campers, please go to the camp auditorium. Thank you."_

I hesitated for a moment, wondering what the coordinator wanted with everyone. She couldn't possibly want to give us an extra speech about forks, could she? Just the thought of it already made me cringe, but I guess I had no choice but showing up at the auditorium. Realizing that, I turned off my laptop and got up from my bed, which I had been lying on for the past fifteen minutes, before walking outside.

My cabin wasn't really close to the auditorium, but it wasn't really far either. I had to walk for just about five minutes until I finally found myself staring at what everyone called an auditorium, but it honestly wasn't anything more than over fifty big wooden logs placed in front of a small stage.

Almost half of the camp was already there, but it wasn't hard to spot Mike sitting on a log near the front, and I quickly made my way up to where he was.

"Hey," I greeted him as I sat down next to him.

"Oh, hey dude!" he greeted me back. "Do you have any idea what this is about?"

"Nope," I replied, shrugging. "I just hope it's not another speech about the dangerous world we live in."

"Yeah, me too."

We waited for some minutes, and it didn't take long until everyone had arrived. As soon as the last person sat down on one of the logs, the coordinator walked up to the stage and turned on the microphone she was carrying. She cleared her throat in an effort to try to get everyone's attention, and the sound was amplified by the two sound boxes placed near the stage, but no one paid attention to her. She did it again, but this time, the voices gradually quieted down, until the whole camp was engulfed in silence. Noticing that, Mrs. Caroline finally started to speak.

"Hello, my dears," she said, a smile playing on her lips. "I've heard many people complaining about the activities provided by this camp, and many of you gave me suggestions about things that I could do in order to make your experience here a little more enjoyable." She had everyone's full attention now, and I have to admit that I was pretty curious about what she was saying as well. "I've come to the decision to do something you all think is fun, which is taking you all hiking tomorrow."

Everyone erupted in cheers, clearly happy to hear that. I was thrilled too, since this seemed like the first camp-like and not boring thing I'd get to do since the moment I first got to this camp.

The coordinator wasn't finished though. "You'll be divided into smaller groups, which will make it easier for us to control and supervise all of you, and each group will have a guide and three employees from the camp to help taking care of you," she went on. "You'll be informed about the division tomorrow, and we'll leave around six in the morning, so you should all be up before then. That's all."

The atmosphere in the camp seemed to have grown lighter as the night fell. Everyone seemed to be a lot happier because of the thought that we'd actually do something fun the next day, me included. It had barely grown dark outside when I was already packing up the things I'd need for the next day, which didn't take me very long.

As soon as I finished packing, I was about to turn my laptop back on, when Mike suddenly walked inside the cabin looking happier than usual.

"Dude, what are you doing here?" Mike asked me as soon as he walked inside, and I couldn't help but frown at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked, giving him a confused look.

"Why aren't you at the campfire?" he asked me.

"Why would I be there?" I asked him, shrugging lightly. I had heard a few guys talking about making a campfire to tell ghost stories tonight, but attending to it totally didn't cross my mind. It just didn't seem like my kind of thing.

"Why wouldn't you? There's gonna be marshmallows and ghost stories! What else could you ask for?" he asked me, and I shook my head at him in disbelief. Was he serious?

"I'm guessing you like those kind of things," I replied. "But I just don't feel like it."

"Oh, come on dude! Do you even have anything better to do?" he asked me, and I hesitated for a moment. He did have a point, I didn't really have anything to do.

I sighed, giving in. "Fine, I'll go to the campfire," I said, before following a too cheerful Mike out of the cabin.

There were about fifteen people sitting around the campfire when we arrived there, and we sat down on one of the logs that were place around a small campfire. Everyone seemed to be pretty happy as they all roasted marshmallows in the campfire and talked about random things. Well, almost everyone anyway.

There was a blonde boy sitting a few logs to the side from where I was, and as we were forming some kind of circle around the campfire, I could see his face clearly. The boy looked just about my age, maybe just a little older, and he didn't seem to be pleased at all with this little meeting. He had his arms crossed over his chest and an expression really close to annoyance on his face as he watched everyone in silence. Another boy, who was sitting just beside him, said one word or another to the annoyed boy eventually, who sometimes responded, but most of the time, the blonde boy remained silent.

Several minutes went by like that, and I have to admit that this whole campfire thing didn't seem so bad anymore. I spent some time talking to many of the people there, and some eating roasted mashmellows. I guess I could even say that I was actually having fun for the first time since I had first arrived at that camp.

Nothing changed for a long while, until a dark haired boy suddenly stood up and said that it was time for ghost stories, and as soon as the words left his mouth, over ten people announced that they had a great story to tell. And after all of those had finally come to some sort of agreement on who would be the first one to tell a story, a red haired girl started speaking.

Many people watched her with fearful eyes as she narrated a story about a little girl whose parents had gone out for the night and weird things started happening to her, but honestly, I didn't think the story was scary at all, just like all the other ones that followed.

I had never been a fan of ghost stories, since I saw no point in them. There was just no way any of those could be true, so what was the point of telling them anyway?

"So, who's next?" the same dark haired boy from before asked when what I guessed was the fifteenth ghost story was over.

"I have a story." All heads turned to see that the voice belonged to the blonde annoyed guy I had noticed earlier. His expression was dark, and for some weird reason, the sound of his voice sent a chill down my spine.

"Well, then tell it!" a blonde girl said, smiling at him, and everyone nodded in agreement. I didn't, though. I don't know why, but I had a really bad feeling about that guy.

The guy hesitated for a moment, as if wondering if he really should go on, before letting out a heavy breath. "You all know that the forest where we're going hiking tomorrow is called The Black Forest by many people, right?" Some people nodded, while some didn't, including me. Everyone was watching the guy carefully, since they were all curious about what that could possibly have to do with the ghost story he was supposed to be telling. "Well, I'm pretty sure some of you might know a few things about that forest. There are several legends and myths about the dangers that live there, and while a big part of those isn't true... Some are."

The guy had everyone's full attention now, but I still wasn't all that interested in what he was saying. "Fifty years ago, the same thing that happened today happened here in this camp. The old coordinator decided to take all the campers hiking in that same forest, but things went terribly wrong. The night before their hiking trip, the kids made a campfire to talk, eat and tell ghost stories, just like we're all doing here right now. Many stories were about supernatural creatures, but the one that scared everyone the most was a story about a creature known as a vampire.

"All the campers were pretty scared of the story, or at least almost all of them. There was a boy who wasn't scared at all, and he even made fun of the story the next day as a small group of campers left for the hiking trip with four employees from the camp. His name was David Harwood.

"The campers were all scared to go into the woods, but they ended up going anyway, even though they were all paying attention to every single movement or sound around them, fearing that they might be unfortunate enough to be attacked by a vampire. David was deeply annoyed by everyone's fear of vampires and decided to do something to prove that there was no danger in wandering through the woods. So a few hours before nightfall that same day, a few campers distracted the employees to give David the chance to get away from the group and take a different path from the one the others were taking.

"He walked for several hours, not really knowing where he was going, but it took him a long time to admit to himself that he was lost. He knew that his only hope was to try to find the way back to the camp, but he had no idea how to do that. The sun soon started to set, and he decided that wandering through the woods in the dark wasn't really a good idea, so he stopped walking and sat down on the ground, resting his back against a tree. He tried to fall asleep, but he just couldn't make himself relax enough to do it, so he ended up just sitting there alone in the dark, watching his surroudings for a long time, until something suddenly caught his attention.

"He thought he had seen something moving in the distance, but when everything was silent and unmoving again for several minutes, he assumed it had been nothing. He was wrong though, and he realized that when the movement happened once again, this time a lot closer to where he was. Frowning, he quickly got back to his feet and scanned his surroudings, trying to figure out what was going on. He felt like was being watched, but he had no idea by who or what, and that doubt freaked him out deeply.

"Nothing at all happened for several seconds, which seemed to drag on for minutes, and he soon decided that it was probably a good idea for him to get out of there. He didn't go far though, since after barely a minute of walking through the woods in the dark, he suddenly felt someone grabbing him from behind, covering his mouth with their hand to prevent him from screaming. David's first reflex was to elbow the stranger in the stomach with as much strength as he could gather, and it seemed to work, since whoever had been holding him suddenly let go of him, but not because of pain, as David soon realized, but by shock. David spun around as soon as he was free from the stranger's grasp, and his gaze then rested on a tall, dark haired man standing right in front of him, an annoyed look on his face.

"David was frozen for a moment, not sure what he should do, when the man's face suddenly changed. His features changed into the ones of a monster, and his mouth broke into a smirk, which allowed David to see the man's sharp, pointy fangs. At the sight, David took off running, but he hadn't taken more than three steps when the man came out of nowhere in a blur and was suddenly standing right in front of him. Before David could do anything else, the man grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm behind his back, before pushing him with enough strength to throw David on the ground.

"When David looked up at his attacker, he caught the sight of the man walking toward him with a triumphant look in his face, and the bright shade of crimson of the vampire's eyes were the last thing David ever saw."

A long, silent moment followed the boy's story, during which everyone there simply gaped at him, or almost everyone anyway. There were around five people who looked completely indifferent to what we had all just heard, including me. I had never believed anything supernatural could actually exist, so I usually wasn't scared of ghost stories, and this one was no different. Vampires weren't real, end of story. So why did people look so frightened because of a story that wasn't real at all?

"Okay kids, it's time to go to bed!" A voice broke me out of my thoughts, and just then I noticed that one of the camp's employees had walked up to where we were. "If you don't get enough sleep, you'll all be too tired to go hiking tomorrow!" he warned us, and that last part seemed to bring everyone back to reality.

Just a few minutes later, I found myself walking back to my cabin with Mike, who seemed to be pretty nervous all of a sudden.

"What's up with you, man?" I asked him after a while, becoming slightly annoyed with his constant scanning our surroundings with his eyes, like he was waiting for something to happen.

"Uh? Oh, uh... It's nothing," he replied, suddenly looking down at the ground, and that was when I realized something.

"Please don't tell me that you're scared of that stupid vampire story," I said, sending him an impatient look.

"What? No, of course not!" he said, but I could easily tell that he was lying.

"Yeah, right," I said, rolling my eyes at him, and he sighed in defeat.

"Okay, okay, it's true! But that story was scary!" Mike told me, and I couldn't help but shake my head at him.

"Of course it wasn't!" I replied, and when I realized that Mike wouldn't respond, I went on. "Do you seriously think that vampires are real?" I asked, disbelief clear in my voice.

"No, I..." Mike sighed once again. "I guess you're right," he said. "I'm just being silly."

I didn't respond, I simply kept walking. I just couldn't understand how people could believe that kind of stuff could actually exist. But, well, who am I to judge them?

I just had no idea how wrong I was about that back then.

* * *

**Author's Note: Soooo, what did you think? =P**

**So they're all going hiking... in the Black Forest... uhm...**

**And what's up with that boy? Why isn't he happy about going hiking? Well, who knows? Oh, wait, I do! ;P**

**Do you guys know what makes me happy? I think you already know the answer, but I'll say it anyway... ****Reviews! ;D**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**

**:D**


	6. Chapter 6: The Black Forest

**Author's Note: Hello people of the world! Please don't call Spencer and Gibby to help you throw watermelons at me! I come in peace! XD I'm really sorry that I kept you waiting for so long, but I just didn't have time to update any of my stories! But now, I'm on vacation, so my updates will be a lot quicker for all my fics (okay, almost all, since I'm having a terrible author's block for some of them, but still XD).**

**Okay, I'm going to shup up now and go on with the story! ;P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, or Twilight, or The Vampire Diaries!**

**And now, enjoy!**

**:D**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 06/07/12**

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Chapter 6: The Black Forest

**Freddie's POV**

The next day, I didn't wake up to the terrible thought that the day would go by like all the others had, since I knew that we'd do something that I might actually enjoy for once. I quickly got out of bed and got dressed before leaving my cabin, carrying my bag with me. I had woken up a little earlier than necessary just to be sure I wasn't late and had to stay in the camp, but apparently, I wasn't the only one who had had that same idea, because there already were several people walking around the camp.

From my cabin, I walked straight to the cafeteria, where the people who had gotten out of bed earlier could eat breakfast before leaving the camp for the hiking trip. Even though the food at the camp was pretty much horrible, I still ate a lot that day, considering that I had no idea how hard it would be to find food in the woods or what we were all even going to eat.

When I was done with my breakfast, I made my way out of the cafeteria and to the auditorium, where we were all supposed to meet Mrs. Caroline, who would inform us about the division of the groups for the hiking trip. At the auditorium, I noticed that almost everyone was already there waiting for the coordinator to show up.

We didn't have to wait much though, since after barely five minutes, Mrs. Caroline emerged from her cabin and started making her way up to where we were, carrying a clipboard with her.

"Well, I see you're all excited about our little activity today," Mrs. Caroline spoke into the microphone when she was already up on the stage. "So this is how it's gonna work. You'll all be divided into smaller groups by the number of your cabin, and each group will be accompanied by four camp employees." She cleared her throat, moving her gaze down to the clipboard in her hands. "Cabins one through five, you'll go with..." She began to announce the names of the employees who'd go with each group and where they were supposed to go to organize themselves so they could leave. "Cabins six through ten, you'll be going with me, so you wait here. Cabins eleven through fifteen, you'll go with..."

The list seemed to go on forever, but we all waited patiently until Mrs. Caroline was done reading it out loud. It took about half an hour, but soon all the groups were correctly divided and ready to leave.

Each one of the eight groups then walked to one different entrance of the forest. When my group was standing by the entrance we'd use, Mrs. Caroline turned around to face us, and everyone stopped, watching her as we waited for her to speak. "Okay, so before we leave, I'd like to say a few things," she started. "We're not going to spend too much time in the woods, just one night, and then we'll all safely come back to this camp. But during every single second of this hiking trip, you must _always_ be with the group. _Never_ go wander alone in the forest. Brock, Steve and Mark," she said, pointing at the three employees who'd go with us. "Will make sure you obey this little rule." She then turned around once again, so this time she was facing the endless mass of trees and bushes, and took a deep breath, as if trying to calm herself down. "Well, let's go."

We walked through the forest for hours, but I barely noticed time going by. Compared to all the speeches about the dangers of the world I had to sit through at the camp, this was pretty much heaven to me. I only realized how fast the day had gone by when it started getting dark and the coordinator told us to stop at a clearing and set up our tents to spend the night.

We spent the rest of the night talking around a campfire, but the coordinator ruined our fun after a while, saying that it was already late and that we should all go to sleep. We all did what she said, getting inside our tents and preparing ourselves to sleep. It took me a while to fall asleep, even though I had woken up pretty early that day.

I didn't sleep well that night though, since I had a very weird dream. Actually, I'm pretty sure it should be classified as a nightmare.

_I was running through the woods as fast as I could. I could see my hot breath as it met the cold night air right in front of my face and my lungs were aching, but I didn't stop. I was running from something, and I knew that I needed to get away from whatever it was at all costs. But no matter how fast I ran, it didn't seem to be enough. I could feel that whatever was following me was getting closer and closer to me at each second that went by, but even if it was pretty much obvious that there was no point in trying to get away from it, I still kept running._

_A few seconds went by like that, until I somehow tripped on a tree root that had gone unnoticed by me, which made me fall down on the muddy forest ground. I quickly sat up, ready to get to my feet and take off running once again, but I soon realized it was useless, since the thing that had been following me was now standing right before my eyes._

_It was a tall, muscular man with dark brown hair and pitch black eyes. I was frozen, finding myself suddenly unable to move. Noticing that, the man smiled, which allowed me to take a glimpse of his fangs._

_At the sight, I quickly got back to my feet and tried to run, but the vampire was suddenly standing right in front of me. He grabbed me by the throat with enough strength to make me unable to break free, but not enough to suffocate me. I knew there was no way I'd be able to break free from the vampire's grasp, so I closed my eyes, waiting for death to come._

I sat up abruptly, breathing noticeably heavier than usual. I didn't have nightmares very often, let alone be scared by one, but even I have to admit that was a pretty intense dream to say the least. And even after I woke up, the dream seemed to keep repeating itself in my mind over and over again, no matter how many time I tried to stop it. I sighed, leaving my tent to breathe some fresh air, since that would probably help me calm down. As I scanned my surroundings, I noticed there was no sign of anyone anywhere, so I assumed everyone was still asleep. I briefly wondered what time it was, before guessing it might be sometime around four o'clock in the morning.

I silently made my way to a small river barely a few steps away from the clearing where we had set up the tents, afraid to wake the coordinator up. When I got there, I kneeled down and cupped my hands together so I could throw some water on my face. I repeated the process twice, until I suddenly heard something moving in the bushes right behind me.

I quickly got back to my feet and turned around, startled by the sudden sound. I guess I could blame the nightmare I had had earlier for my sudden paranoia with any kind of sound or movement around me in those woods. But my paranoia proved itself pointless when my eyes focused on the blonde boy who had told the vampire story at the campfire, who seemed to be going back to where we were camped from the opposite direction to the one I had come from.

When he noticed me, he eyed me curiously for a moment, and I did the same. What was he doing alone in the middle of the woods so late at night?

"Uh... What are you doing here?" he asked, still eyeing me.

I shrugged lightly in response. "Just sort of woke up," I replied. "And what are _you_ doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, I just... I just decided to go for a walk. I know this forest pretty well," he replied, also shrugging, and I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at his response.

"You come here a lot?" I asked.

"Every year," he told me, and I suddenly felt bad for him, even if he still creeped me out.

"Oh, that sucks," I replied. "It's my first time here and I already hate it," I said, and he chuckled.

"Trust me, it gets worse every year," he said, and for a moment, I wondered if that was even possible. And that was when I noticed there was something dark on the corner of his mouth. It looked like some sort of dark red liquid or something.

"Hey, you've got a little something here," I said, wiping my own mouth with my hand to show him where the liquid was.

I could have sworn his eyes widened for a moment, but it happened so fast I might have imagined it. "Oh, it's... It's probably the berries I found in the forest," he explained, wiping his mouth clean with the back of his hand.

I nodded lightly in response, just then realizing how tired I was from not sleeping well. "I'm gonna try to go back to sleep," I announced.

"Okay, see ya," he said.

"See ya," I replied as I began to make my way back to the clearing.

But no matter how much I tried, I couldn't make myself go back to sleep, so I ended up spending the rest of the night simply lying awake inside my tent, thinking about nothing and everything at the same time. For some reason, my thoughts ended up wandering toward Sam, just like they did all the time, and I was suddenly filled with the constant doubt that haunted me on daily basis.

I knew for a fact that Sam hated me, so could we ever be more than friends? There was a time when I considered telling her about how I felt, but I soon realized how foolish that would be, since there was no way Sam would ever have any kind of romantic feelings toward me. But no matter how many times I told myself that, there was still a part of me that wondered what would happen if I ever told her the truth, and if there was any tiny possibility that Sam might actually feel something for me. I knew that sounded impossible, but hoping it could be true was the only thing that kept me from going insane. I loved Sam so much it even hurt sometimes, but it hurt even more to know that she'd never be mine.

The sun soon started rise, and in no time at all, I heard the sound of people walking outside my tent, so I decided it was time to exit my tent and start getting ready to resume walking.

And about one hour later, we went back to hiking, but this time, we didn't walk for long.

I suddenly heard a girl screaming, and before my brain even had the chance to process what was going on, everyone around me started to run in all directions, seeming to be completely terrified. At first I was confused, so I frowned as I briefly scanned my surroundings, and that was when I spotted a huge brown bear coming out of the woods right behind me.

Without even thinking, I did what anyone else would have done if they were me - I took off running. I ran as fast as I could, but after about two minutes, I heard someone - or something - following me. For a brief moment, my brain registered the similarity of my current situation to the nightmare I had had the previous night, but I quickly pushed those thoughts away. I tried to run faster, but my legs were already tired, and I was barely able to keep up my pace for two more minutes until I had to make myself come to a stop. I bent over, resting my hands on my knees as I tried to slow down my heavy breathing.

And that was when whatever had been following me emerged from the woods behind me, and much to my relief, it was just Mike.

"Hey dude... Did you... Did you see the size of that bear?" Mike asked me between heavy breaths. He seemed to be even more tired than I was.

"Yeah... That thing was big," I replied.

"Big? It was _huge_!" he exclaimed, seeming to be completely amazed.

We stayed where we were for a while in an effort to restore our energy, but we soon decided that we should go look for the others, or maybe even try to find our way back to the camp. We walked for several hours, but we had no idea where we were going. I even thought we might be walking around in circles.

The sun soon started to set, and as we were both exhausted from walking nonstop the whole day, we decided to rest and continue walking in the morning.

We looked for dry sticks or anything else that we could use to make a campfire to try to keep ourselves warm. We sat in silence for a long time, until we suddenly heard something moving in the woods right in front of us.

"Did you hear that?" Mike asked me, sounding slightly panicked.

"Yeah," I replied, eyeing the bushes and trees in the distance carefully, but I couldn't see anything behind them.

"Do you think there's anyone there?" Mike asked, but I didn't answer.

Everything was silent for a long moment, which made me wonder if the sound hadn't been caused by the wind or something.

"It's probably nothing," I said finally, but that didn't seem to calm Mike down at all.

Things remained the same for a few seconds, until we heard the exact same sound from before once again.

"Maybe it's the wind or something," I said quickly, but I was beginning to grow nervous inside.

We watched our surroundings carefully for a moment, until the sound repeated itself for the third time, but this time, it happened a lot closer to where we were.

Out of instinct, Mike and I simultaneously got to our feet. Our eyes were glued to the direction the sound had come from, and we were both ready to take off running at any second if necessary.

And that was when it all happened.

I was suddenly able to make out a silhouette of a person in the distance, walking in our direction. In a moment, the person was several feet away, and in the other, the person was standing right in front of us.

The person was a short, blonde young man. He was watching us carefully, and his eyes were scarlet red. But they didn't stay that way for long, since his irises suddenly grew black as the white part of his eyes became red and black veins came out of the skin under his eyes. My breath got caught in my throat at the sight, which seemed to amuse the man, who smiled at us. But it wasn't a happy smile; it was some sort of sarcastic smile, which resembled a smirk and allowed me to see his sharp, pointy fangs.

I was frozen for a moment, my mind racing. This couldn't be happening. This guy couldn't be a vampire, since vampire didn't even exist._ I mean... They don't, right?_ I suddenly wondered if I wasn't sleeping and if this wasn't another nightmare, but I somehow knew this was not a dream. This was reality, and no matter how crazy and impossible it might sound, there was a vampire standing right in front of me.

**Mike's POV**

My eyes widened when I realized that the man standing right in front of me was a vampire, who was ready to kill us both at any moment. That last thought made me panic even more, but I couldn't make myself move; I was completely frozen. The man began to walk toward us, and I knew very well what would happen next - he'd kill us. He'd drink every single drop of blood from our bodies and leave us in the middle of the woods, where no one would ever find us.

I briefly wondered if either me or Freddie had any chances of outrunning a vampire, but I instantly realized just how foolish that sounded. We'd obviously die if we tried.

Just as that thought actually sunk in, a huge dark brown wolf suddenly jumped out of the woods right next to us and stood between us and the vampire. The wolf had its back turned to us, but I could hear it snarling at the vampire, and for a second, I was able to catch a glimpse of the wolf's huge teeth.

The wolf suddenly sprang forward, attacking the vampire, who bared his fangs and snarled at the wolf.

I had no idea if I should be relieved or terrified, since I was pretty sure that both the vampire and the wolf would kill both of us when the fight was over, no matter who won.

The fight only lasted about fifteen seconds though, because the vampire suddenly punched the wolf's side, which sent it flying right over us. The wolf hit a tree with so much strength that the tree collapsed, and then the animal also fell on the ground, apparently unconscious.

The vampire suddenly turned to us, and I braced myself in fear. He was suddenly standing right in front of me and Freddie, but instead of attacking us, he grabbed Freddie by his shoulders, before taking off in a blur and disappearing from sight.

I just stood there for a moment, trying to process what had just happened, but none of it made sense. I suddenly felt horrible knowing that the vampire would most likely kill Freddie, but there was nothing I could do about it. I mean, it wasn't like I actually stood a chance against a vampire, so what would be the point of going after him?

I heard a movement behind me and I spun around, startled, only to find the gigantic wolf slowly getting to its feet.

_Great, now I'm gonna die too, _I thought as the wolf rested its gaze on me. But instead of attacking me, the wolf simply eyed me for a moment, before scanning its surroundings, as if looking for any sign of the vampire. I could swear there was a confused expression on its face, if that was even possible. The wolf suddenly looked back at me, sending me a questioning look. The look in the animal's eyes was almost human, and that might be the reason why I gestured in the direction the vampire had disappeared with Freddie, as if I thought that maybe the wolf would understand what I meant.

And apparently, it did, since the wolf suddenly took off running in a blur, going in the exact same direction the vampire had gone.

**Freddie's POV**

It all happened so fast that I didn't even have time to react. In one moment, I was standing next to Mike wondering if we had any chances of surviving a vampire attack, and in the other, I was being carried by the vampire. He was running so fast everything around me was a blur, but he didn't seem to be making any effort to carry me at all.

The vampire came to a stop abruptly, and before I could even process what was going on, he threw me on the forest ground. I hit the ground with so much strength that I was pretty sure my arm broke with the impact, and I groaned lowly because of the pain. But before I even had the chance to try to get back to my feet and run, I felt a hand suddenly grabbing my wrist and my skin being torn apart by what felt like two small daggers. I felt my blood leaving my body as the vampire sucked it out of my veins, but there was nothing I could do about it. I tried to break free from him grasp, but he was too strong.

I closed my eyes, giving up on trying to fight the inevitable. I was going die, I was sure of it.

I felt my strength slipping away from me at each second that passed, and I just wished it would be over quickly.

I heard a loud snarl coming from somewhere near me, and the hold on my wrist was suddenly gone. I opened my eyes and saw the same brown wolf from before attacking the vampire once again, but this time, it wasn't alone. There was another wolf there, but this one had black fur, and it was even bigger than the brown one.

I wasn't able to see what happened next though, since I suddenly felt the most horrible pain I had ever felt in my life on my wrist, right where the vampire had bitten me, and I couldn't help but close my eyes as I screamed in agony.

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**Author's Note: Soooo, what did you think? =P**

**There are so many questions to be answered in this chapter, don't you think? What's up with that boy? What's happening to Freddie? What's up with those huge wolves and what do they have to do with Mrs. Benson?**

** Okay, I think I've already said too much XD You'll find out the answer to all those questions in the next chapter! ;P**

**Once again, I'm really sorry that I kept you waiting for so long!**

**And now, you can leave this page through that green magic door right over there! Yep, the one that says 'Review this Chapter'. ;)**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**

**:D**


	7. Chapter 7: Memories

**Author's Note: Hello people of the world! =)**

**I'm really sorry, but I couldn't upldate my stories for a while... stupid laptop... but anyway, I'm back! =P**

**Okay, so I have a few more things to say about the vampires.**

**If they drink the blood of anyone who's drunk vervain or drink the herb itself, they grow weak for some time until they drink human blood again (like on TVD). And here the werewolves are like the Twilight ones. **

**Are we clear? =)**

**Oh, there's one more thing I need to tell you about. In future chapters, there might be some CarlyxGriffin (not much, just a little).**

**Okay, in this chapter, you'll finally understand what's up with Mrs. Benson sending Freddie to that camp and you'll hear a part of her past that, well, is... Well... You'll soon undertand what I'm talking about XD**

**Note: For those who don't know, Mrs. Benson's first name is Marissa ;)**

**Warning: This chapter contains a little bit of violence.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, or Twilight, or The Vampire Diaries!**

**And now, enjoy!**

**:D**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 06/17/12**

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Chapter 7: Memories

**Marissa's POV**

The phone rang suddenly, making me jump slightly in surprise.

I put the parenting magazine I had been reading on the coffee table and stood up from the couch, quickly making my way over to where the phone was placed, wondering who was calling as I raised the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?" I spoke into the phone, and in the moment I heard the voice coming from the other end of the line, the memories from the phone call I had received about a week ago suddenly took over my mind.

_It was already late at night, and Freddie had already gone to bed. I was about to go to sleep myself, but the phone rang suddenly, making me pause in the hallway as I made my way to my bedroom. I turned around and walked over to the phone table, wondering who would call me so late at night._

_"Hello?" I spoke into the phone._

_"Hello," a__ familiar voice replied, but I couldn't tell exactly where I had heard it before. "__I'd like to talk to Marissa Benson." _

_"That would be me," I said. "Who is this?" I asked, giving up on trying to figure out who it was._

_"Marissa? This is Jack," the voice replied, and it was then that realization dawned upon me._

_"Jack? Is that really you?" I asked in disbelief, but I didn't wait for his reply. "Oh my god, we haven't talked in twenty years or something!"_

_I could hear in his voice that he was smiling when he spoke again. "Twenty two to be exact."_

_I paused for a moment, barely believing that it had really been that much time. "So... Why are you calling me all of a sudden?"_

_"Well, I wanted to give you a warning," he said, and I frowned in confusion._

_"A warning?" I asked._

_"Yeah," he replied. "There's a newborn vampire wandering around the Seattle area, and we've been tracking him down for the last few days, but we think that now he's headed to the city itself. I don't think we'll get to him before he reaches the city, so I wanted to warn you to be careful during the next couple of days, and above all, don't go out at night, not even with other people," he explained._

_It took me a few seconds to be able to respond, my heart suddenly racing inside my chest. "Oh god... Well, thank you for warning me, Jack. I really appreciate it," I said finally._

_"You're welcome," he replied. "Take care of yourself."_

_"I will," I told him._

That was the reason why I sent Freddie away to that camp. I wanted to keep him safe, and the only way I found to do that was by getting him out of Seattle for a few days.

There was a part of our family's past that Freddie wasn't aware of, nor was anyone else we knew. It was just better that no one knew about it, so that was why I've kept it a secret for the past twenty-two years.

When I was about twelve years old, my parents took me and my brother to visit some relatives in a small town not too far from Seattle. There, my father met a man called Jack, whom my father soon became friends with. Eventually, my mother became friends with his wife, and we soon grew the habit of visiting Jack and his family from time to time.

But after about a year, we found out a secret about Jack, one that scared me greatly back then.

Jack wasn't a normal person like me and my family, or anyone I knew up until then for that matter. He was a werewolf - he could actually change into a huge wolf whenever he wanted to, and since it was inheritated, his son was a werewolf as well. His wife wasn't, though. We found out their secret when we caught his son turning into a wolf, which left Jack with no other choice but to tell us the truth.

We broke contact with them for several months, but we ended up coming around once again, even if both my mom and I didn't think it was a good idea. We just wanted to keep our family safe, since being around werewolves, or any kind of supernatural creatures for that matter, was obviously dangerous, but both my father and my brother didn't seem to agree with me and my mother.

But we eventually ended up forgetting our insecurities toward them. There was nothing different about them whenever we were around; in our eyes, they could be just as normal as us, and that feeling of normality grew so much that sometimes I even forgot that they were werewolves.

But one night, I found out just how wrong I had been to think like that.

_I was seventeen years old the night my whole life fell apart, and my brother, nineteen._

_It had started off just like any other night we were over at Jack's house, but things soon changed. Three newborn vampires had been wandering around the small town, probably looking for an easy prey, and they somehow ended up coming across Jack's house, which was pretty isolated from the small town. The house was surrounded by forest in all directions, placed right in the center of a huge clearing._

_We had all been sitting on a few chairs placed on the front porch, simply talking and hanging out together, when Jack seemed to suddenly tense up. He eyed the forest right in front of the house for a brief moment, until he suddenly directed his attention to us, telling us to get inside the house._

_It was already too late, though._

_In the next second, three figures walked out of the woods - two men and a woman. Even from the distance, I could see their bright red irises as they stared us with nothing but pure hunger in their eyes. Jack's son didn't even hesitate before jumping in the air, and when he landed on the ground right in front of the porch, he was in wolf form. The wolf had chocolate brown fur and it was so big in size that it could be easily mistaken as a bear. Jack hesitated for a moment, but he ended up doing the same thing as his son, changing into a pitch black wolf, and we were shocked to see that he was an even bigger wolf than his son._

_We were all frozen, not even able to move as the wolves attacked the vampires so fast that it all happened in a blur. But even if Jack and his son were incredibly fast, the vampires were faster. One of them somehow managed to get past the wolves and was suddenly near us. He grabbed my father by his shoulders and before any of us could even have the chance to react, he had his fangs pressed against the skin of his neck. My mother screamed in horror, but there was nothing any of us could have done to save my father. My brother tried though. He tried to push the vampire off my dad with all the strength he could gather, but that wasn't enough._

_The vampire soon let my go of my father, letting his lifeless body fall to the ground and turning to us, his mouth and chin completely covered in blood. He attacked my brother, and my mother screamed once again._

_But before the vampire could kill my brother, Chad, Jack's son, attacked him, forcefully pushing him away from my brother, who instantly fell to the ground as soon as he was free from the vampire's grasp. It was just then that I realized that Jack and his son had killed the two other vampires while the other one attacked us. When he realized that, the third vampire tried to escape, but the wolves didn't let him. Before he had even reached the forest, the wolves got to him and buried their teeth into his skin, tearing him to pieces in just a few seconds._

_Tears rolled down my cheeks as my eyes laid upon my father's body, and my mother hugged me, trying to comfort me, even though she was also sobbing hysterically at the sight._

_And soon after the wolves had gone back to human form, Jack told us something that made me and my mother even more desperate and broken._

_My brother had been lying on the ground during that whole time, suppressed screams of pain eventually escaping his lips. According to Jack, the vampire venom had already spread through his body, and it was too late to do anything to help him. He was transforming into a vampire, and there was nothing we could do to avoid it. Jack also told us that he knew a vampire - a good one, as he described - and that this vampire could help my brother._

_Two weeks passed, during which I saw no sign of my brother. Until..._

_The doorbell rang suddenly._

_I made my way down the stairs to answer the door, since I knew my mother wouldn't. Me and my mom were still devasted because of what had happened, but my mother was somehow worse than I was with dealing with the pain. She wouldn't leave her room, not even to eat; I was the one who had to bring her food and do everything for her, and I had a feeling that wouldn't change any time soon._

_I looked through the peephole and gasped at what I saw. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down as I tried to decide whether or not I should open the door. My brain was telling me not to open it, to simply walk back upstairs and wait until the person was gone, but there was a part of me that wanted to open the door. The second part ended up getting the best of me, and I soon found myself staring at my brother, who was standing on the front porch._

_If I didn't know what had happened to him, I would have never been able to tell what he was. He looked slightly more pale than before, but not enough for anyone to actually notice a difference. His eyes were the exact same color they had been before - clear blue. That intrigued me for a moment, until I realized that he was wearing contact lenses to hide his bright red eyes._

_"Hey," he greeted me, seeming to be relieved that I had actually decided to even give him a chance to talk._

_"What are you doing here, Matt?" I asked him, not even bothering to be polite._

_"I wanted to check on you and our mother," he replied. "I was worried."_

_I shook my head in disbelief. "Well, if you really wanna know, we're great! Dad was killed by a monster, and my brother **became** a monster! How do you think we are?" I shot at him, sarcasm dripping from every single word I spoke._

_"I'm not a monster," he said, his voice low._

_"Oh, of course not! You just go around killing people, sucking every single drop of blood from their bodies," I said, the sarcasm never leaving my voice. "I don't see how that makes you a monster!"_

_"I don't kill people," he told me. "I only drink animal blood. I don't need to kill people to survive."_

_"Oh, really? And how long is that gonna last? Can you completely assure me that you have complete control over yourself?" I asked._

_Matt was silent for a moment, and that was enough for me to know the answer to my questions. No, he couldn't assume me of anything, because he probably didn't know those answers himself._

_I was about to close the door shut, but Matt stopped me, holding the door with his hand._

_"Marissa, please. Just give me a chance," he pleaded, and I stared at him for a brief moment, until I finally came to a decision._

_"Go away, Matt," I told him. "I don't wanna see you, ever again."_

_Matt hesitated for a moment, and I briefly registered a hurt look in his eyes, but he soon pulled his hand back, which allowed me to close the door shut loudly._

_As soon as the door was closed, I looked through the peephole. Matt stood there for a moment, before turning around and starting to make his way to the sidewalk, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone._

_I rested my back against the door as I slid all the way down to the floor, finally letting the tears fall freely._

"Marissa?" I heard Jack's voice coming from the other end of the phone line, bringing me back to reality.

My eyes teared up at all the memories that had suddenly taken over my mind, but I somehow managed to hide the fact that I was crying when I spoke into the phone once again.

"Yes," I replied. "Jack, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," he told me. "I'm just calling to tell you that you don't need to worry about the newborn vampire anymore. We've taken care of him."

Relief washed over me as soon as I heard his words. "So you got to him before he reached Seattle?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I just wish we had gotten to him a little earlier."

"Why?" I asked, frowning.

"There was a group of people hiking in the woods, and he attacked them. He didn't kill anyone, but he had already bitten a boy when we got there, and, well, the venom had already spread."

I hesitated for a moment, the memory from what had happened to my brother rushing back into my mind and lingering there for a moment, before I finally managed to push it away. "Poor boy..."

"I know, but there was nothing we could have done to avoid it," he said. "The vampire who helped your brother is there with him right now. It all happened a few hours ago, so the transformation will still take a some time to be over."

I was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say next, until I finally decided that there was nothing I could say about that. "Well, thank you for letting me know that everything is fine now," I finally said.

"It's no problem, really," he replied, and I hung up.

I made my way over to the couch and sat down on it as I felt my eyes tearing up once again. I hadn't thought about my brother for over fifteen years now, because I knew just how much the thought of what he had become pained me. Still, I couldn't help but wonder where he was now, and if he was even still alive - I mean, undead.

I couldn't help but feel bad for that boy Jack told me about, and for his family as well. He was now slowly changing into a monter, a heartless killer, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

At least I knew that my Freddie was safe.

* * *

**Author's Note: ****So that was Mrs. Benson's secret past! I bet you didn't see that coming XD And I'm pretty sure you know who the boy who was attacked is, don't you? ;P**

**But anyway, what did you think?**

**Review! =D**

**Oh, and Merry Christmas! (I'm a little late, I know, but my laptop didn't want to cooperate with me to update this earlier =/) And a Happy New Year to everybody! ;P**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**

**:D**


	8. Chapter 8: Burning

**Author's Note: Hello people of the world! =)**

**I'm sorry for the long wait! =P**

**I'd like to thank you all for the awesome reviews! And also, I'd like to thank everyone who added this story to your alerts and/or favorites list! Thank you all so much! =D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or Twilight or The Vampire Diaries!**

**And now, enjoy!**

**:D**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 06/29/12**

* * *

Chapter 8: Burning

**Freddie's POV**

I couldn't stop myself from screaming in agony.

I felt as if someone had touched the skin of my wrist with hot metal, and it hurt so much I felt as if my skin melted at the touch.

And even if that seemed pretty much impossible, the feeling grew even worse as time went by.

The burning feeling on my wrist soon began to spread to my hand and up my arm, and after a few minutes, it had taken over my whole body. I was pretty sure that was exactly what being burnt alive must feel like, which, trust me, was the worst pain someone could ever experience. It was like someone had replaced my blood with liquid fire, which burned inside my veins with so much intensity I was pretty sure it might end up driving me insane in no time at all. For a moment, I even wondered if I wasn't dead, but I didn't think death hurt so much.

But if I wasn't dead, then what the hell was happening to me?

I had completely lost control over my own body. Of course, I could feel every bit of the excrutiating pain that took over every single nerve of my body, but I, for some reason, couldn't make myself willingly move any part of my body. I could feel my muscles spazzing lightly at the pain, but I had no control over it. I couldn't even open my eyes or even hear anything around me.

No matter how much thought I put into trying to figure out what was happening to me, all my effort proved itself to be in vain, and soon, I gave up on trying to understand what was going on and simply began to hope that whatever was happening to me would just end soon.

It didn't.

I had completely lost track of time, but I could easily tell that I had been there for several hours, maybe even over a day. The pain was so strong I was sure I would be begging for death if I could. I just couldn't take it any longer.

But what if... what if I was already dead?

That thought was frightening, but no matter how many times I tried to push it away, it always found its way back into my mind. What if this would never be over, and I would have to live forever in this pain? That perspective was completely unbearable, but I found myself unable to find any other explanation.

But in despite of all that, I still refused to believe that I was really dead.

As several painfully dragged on seconds went by, images of everyone I cared about crossed my mind, causing an whirlwind of emotions inside of me - my mother, my family, Carly, Spencer, Sam, my friends from school; I'd never see any one of them ever again. Even though I didn't think I was actually dead, I was sure I would be soon, and the worst part of it was that I hadn't even had the chance to say goodbye to anyone, or to even tell the girl I love about what I felt for her. I had waited too long to tell Sam how I felt, and now it was too late. I would die - that was, if I wasn't already dead - and I would never even know if she felt something for me as well.

Several images flooded my brain in no time at all - images of everyone I cared about as they cried, suffering over my death, and I suddenly felt even worse than I had before. I didn't want them to suffer like that because of me, but I guessed there was nothing I could do about that.

Several hours passed without any changes, until suddenly, something different began to happen.

The burning feeling started to fade in the tip of my toes and fingers. I didn't put much thought into it, until the same thing started to happen in my hands and feet, and then up my arms and legs, until my limbs were completely free from the pain.

After a while, my hearing suddenly came back, which confused me greatly, considering that I could hear everything so clearly it even shocked me. I could even hear the sound of someone breathing near me, which pretty much frightened me and amazed me at the same time. But the breathing wasn't regular - it made eventual pauses. Whoever - or whatever - was breathing near me seemed to go several minutes without breathing, before they began to do it again.

Nothing changed for a while, and I soon stopped paying attention to the breathing sound, until a voice coming from near me suddenly broke the silence.

"I'm pretty sure you can hear me now, since it's been over two days." I instantly recognized the voice of the boy who had told that vampire story at the campfire. "So, well, I think it's time for me to explain what's going on to you." He made a short pause. "First of all, you're not exactly dead, nor will you be, so you shouldn't worry about that," he told me.

I felt relieved when I heard those words, but my relief didn't last long, since I then realized what his exact words had been. _'You're not **exactly** dead.' _What the hell did that even mean? How could I be 'not exactly' dead? Was that even possible? I didn't have time to think about that, since he soon went on.

"You probably have no idea what's going on with you right now," he continued. "Well, you were bitten by a vampire, as you might already have figured out, and now..." He trailed off, before falling silent for a brief moment. "I guess I'll just wait a little longer, since I have no idea if you're even listening to what I'm saying. I'm probably just talking to myself." He practically muttered the last part, sounding as if he was talking more to himself than to me, but I was still able to hear it perfectly.

I wanted to tell him to continue, since I could indeed hear him, but I couldn't make myself do it. I had just as much control over my lips as I had over my limbs, or the rest of my body for that matter. Much to my frustration, the guy refused to say anything else, which annoyed me greatly. I just wanted to know what was happening to me, was that too much to ask?

He grew completely silent after that, and sometimes I even wondered if he was still there. I only became aware of his presence when I eventually heard him moving or breathing. I could tell that he left a few times, but he was always back soon after.

As time went by, I began to think that this torture would never be over. If what that guy had said was true, I had been agonizing like this for over two days, but it didn't seem like this pain would end anytime soon.

Much to my surprise, the pain began to gradually disappear in my shoulders and waist after some time, fading until it was only in my chest, and it remained that way for quite a while.

All of a sudden, the pain grew more intense, and my heart started beating faster and faster at each second, until I was sure it would jump right out of my chest at any moment. The pain grew so intense that my mind went numb for a moment, and all I wanted was for it to be over; I'd rather be dead than have to feel that for any longer.

I suddenly felt as if my chest had been lifted slightly off the ground, the burning fire inside my chest getting even more intense than before for barely a second, and before I could even process what was happening, my heart stopped, and so did the pain.

* * *

**Author's Note: Okay, I'm sorry for the short chapter. This is probably the shortest chapter you will ever read in this fic =P The next chapter is pretty long, and I had to split it up in two, or else it would turn out _way_ too long XP**

**So, Freddie has no idea what's happening to him... I gotta say, I'm pretty curious as well... Hehe ;P**

**And what's up with that guy? Is he a stalker? A werewolf? A vampire? A mermaid? A hamster? Send me a review telling me what you think! ;D**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**

**:D**


	9. Chapter 9: New Life

**Author's Note: Hello people of the world! =)**

**First of all, I want to say that I'm really sorry for the long wait, but for some reason, this chapter was pretty hard to write, and I guess the author's block didn't really help me with that XP**

**And another reason for my lack of updates is that I'm back to school, and now, the school day is longer for me =/**

**Anyway, I think I've already talked too much, so let's go on with what's important, shall we? ;P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or Twilight or The Vampire Diaries!**

**And now, enjoy!**

**:D**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 07/18/12**

* * *

Chapter 9: New Life

**Freddie's POV**

I was frozen for a moment, unsure of what to do. The pain had suddenly gone away, much to my relief, and I would have been thrilled to realize that if my heart hadn't stopped beating just a few seconds ago.

So it was official, then.

I was dead.

That thought didn't sadden or surprise me as much as I suppose it should have, but I guess I could thank the fact that I had somehow come to considering the fact that I was dead or would be dead soon the moment that excrutiating pain began for that. I actually felt happy that the pain was gone, and I hoped that I'd never have to go through anything like that ever again, which I supposed would happen now, considering that I was dead and all.

But if I was really dead, then how come I could still hear everything that was going on around me?

It was true; I could still hear every single sound coming from the forest that surrounded me, and everything seemed to be even louder and clearer than before. That intrigued me greatly, but what really surprised me was the fact that I could still feel my body. If I was really dead, then wasn't I supposed to feel completely numb or something? Actually, I even felt like I could move if I wanted to.

I tried moving the fingers in my right hand, expecting not to feel anything, but much to my surprise, my fingers twitched at the command.

Okay, that was weird. My heart wasn't beating, but I could still feel my body and move if I wanted to. Something definitely did not seem right about all this.

I tried to breathe, and I was surprised to realize that I could do it, but the weirdest part of it was that I felt nothing when I did it. I felt as if it hadn't changed anything; as if it wasn't neccessary.

Out of curiosity, I tried opening my eyes, and I was shocked when I realized that I could do that as well. But the surprise wore off the moment everything went into focus and I finally realized just how clear everything was.

I sat up on the ground, looking around in surprise. It was like someone had turned HD mode on my eyes. Everything was a lot brighter, and I could even see the details on the leaves from the trees and bushes around me. I was still amazed by the sight of everything around me when the sound of something moving in the bushes just a few steps ahead from where I was brought me back to reality, and in less than a second, I was already on my feet. I briefly wondered how I had moved so fast, but I didn't even have time to think about it, since I finally realized that there was someone standing right in front of me.

I had been right about the voice I heard earlier; it indeed belonged to that boy who had told everyone that vampire story at the campfire the night before we all went hiking, since he was standing just a feet steps away from me. What intrigued me, though, was the way he was looking at me, his golden eyes watching me carefully. _Wait, weren't his eyes brown? _I wondered for a brief moment, but I instantly dropped that line of thought. That wasn't the point right now. I noticed he was extremely tense, and he seemed to be expecting me to do something at any second. I couldn't understand why he was acting like that, though.

"What the hell is going on?" I made myself ask after several silent seconds, finally realizing that the guy wouldn't break the silence.

"Well, first I need you to calm down. Then I think we can talk," the guy told me.

It was just then that I realized that I had both my knees slightly bent, my body leaned a bit forward and my muscles tense. I guess it must have seemed as if I were preparing to attack him or something. I instantly straightened up, trying to make myself relax as I stared at him expectantly, waiting for some kind of explanation.

He hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "First of all, I'm pretty sure you're wondering why I'm here," he said, and I simply nodded in response. "You remember that story I told everyone back at the campfire, right?" he asked me, and I nodded once again. I really didn't see what that had to do with anything, but I didn't comment on it. "Well, let's just say that I didn't tell the whole story back then."

He made a short pause, and I simply stared at him with clear curiosity and confusion on my face. Where was he trying to get with that?

Noticing my confusion, he went on.

"You see, David didn't exactly die that night. He was bitten by the vampire, yes, but he was saved before all his blood had been drained from his body." He made a short pause, as if to check my reaction to his words, but I just kept my confused expression on. "Before the vampire was done with him, some sort of gigantic wolf pushed the vampire off him."

Okay, he had done it; he had my full attention now. The situation he had just described was almost exactly the same thing that had happened to me, except that in my case, there had been two wolves instead of only one, but that didn't really make a difference right now.

"But the problem was... the venom had already spread, and in consequense... David became a vampire as well," he finally said, his voice low.

It took about a second for the meaning of his words to actually sink in, and when it did, I suddenly found myself speechless, unable to form a single coherent sentence as my mind began to actually process what he had just to told me.

If what he was saying was actually true, then it could only mean that...

I was vampire.

_No, it can't be possible, _I thought quickly. I mean, it couldn't, right?

The more I thought about everything that had happened to me, the more true his words seemed, especially if I considered the fact that my heart wasn't even beating anymore, but I was still here, standing. And honestly, I did feel different from how I did before being attacked. But could it really be true? Could I really be a vampire?

I had never believed in this sort of thing. For me, all those stories, movies and books about anything supernatural were nothing else but a bunch of things some really creative writer had come up with, and none of those things could never have any kind of truth behind them. But what if I had been wrong all these years?

I shook my head, refusing to accept that what this mysterious guy had just told me could actually be true. "No, that's impossible. I mean..." I let my voice hang in the air, unable to finish whatever I wanted to say. And what was that anyway? My brain just didn't seem willing to cooperate with me at the moment.

"It is true," he told me.

I was silent for a moment, still refusing to believe in anything he was telling me, when a question crossed my mind, and I couldn't stop the next words that escaped my mouth. "How do you know any of those things anyway?" I asked.

He eyed me for a moment, as if wondering something. "I'm the one who went through all that," he finally said, and in that moment, realization finally dawned upon me.

I suddenly found myself unable to do anything apart from simply gape at him.

He was David.

I mean, was he?

"But if you were really David, that would mean that you were a..." For some reason, it became extremely hard for me to say the word 'vampire' out loud.

"Vampire?" he asked, and then nodded lightly. He must have noticed the disbelief in my face, which made my thoughts pretty much obvious - I didn't believe him. He hesitated for a moment, as if debating something inside his head, probably trying to come up with some other insane story like the last one, until he let out a low sigh, his face suddenly becoming serious.

And that was when it happened.

His irises, which had been of a golden color until then, suddenly became completely black, while the white parts of his eyes gained a red color. Dark veins were suddenly visible in the area under his eyes, as if they were pressing themselves against the skin right above them as he parted his lips slightly, allowing me to see the fangs that, barely two seconds ago, hadn't been there.

The change only lasted for about three seconds before his face suddenly went back to normal, but it was already enough to make my eyes widen with shock. But just as I tried to process what I had just seen, another fact was suddenly clear to me - his heart wasn't beating; I'd be able to hear it if it were.

And that was when I finally made myself accept the fact that he had been telling the truth all along, which meant that not only was he a vampire, but also that I was one as well.

"I'm guessing now you believe me," David said with a hint of amusement clear in his voice.

I somehow made myself nod in response.

After that, David explained everything that had happened after I was bitten, beginning by the fact that the wolves had killed my attacker. Turns out that the wolves weren't normal wolves. They were werewolves - people who could shift into the form of a huge wolf whenever they wanted to and had the duty to protect as much humans from vampires as possible.

But they weren't able to save me.

And as soon as the werewolves realized what was happening to me, they seeked David for help.

When the story was over, David explained to me that I didn't need to kill people to survive; that I could feed on animal blood instead. The animal blood would make me weaker than other vampires and maybe even unstable when it came to controlling my instincts, but it would keep me alive, and that was already enough for me.

The thought of having to kill someone, even if it meant my survival, had been haunting me since the moment I accepted the fact that I was a vampire. The thought was painful, unbearable even, and I felt relief washing over me the moment David told me that there was a second option.

The next few days went on pretty much the same way. David taught me everything I had to know about being a vampire, from dealing with my new strength and speed to hunting. It was shocking how fast and strong I was, and my extremely sharp senses never failed to surprise me.

Days passed, but I couldn't be sure how many, when David told me we had to talk about something.

First, he told me something he had kept from me since the moment I woke up as a vampire; the real reason why the werewolves had called him to help me adjust to being a vampire.

I had indeed being confused by that at first, but I had decided not to comment on it at the time. It seemed weird to me that the werewolves, who seemed to actually hate vampires, had let me complete the transition into a vampire instead of killing me when they had the chance.

When someone becomes a vampire, it's really difficult to know how they will act. Some people seem to just shut off their emotions and completely give in to their instincts, killing people remorselessly. But some manage to hold onto their sanity and survive without killing people.

The werewolves wanted to know which one of those two I'd become. If I became the first, they'd probably come after me and kill me before I could do much damage. But as I had fortunately become the second, they had decided to let me live.

And that was when David asked me the question that had been lingering in my mind for these last few days I had spent out in the woods, away from the camp.

"Do you plan on going back? Try to live your old life?" David asked me, and I fell silent for a moment.

_Should I really go back?_

The question repeated itself over and over in my mind, but its answer was a complete mystery to me. I knew that if I came back, I'd be risking the lives of everyone I cared about. I had no idea if I had the complete control over my new vampire instincts, since I hadn't even been in the presence of anyone human yet. But as those thoughts crossed my mind, another question suddenly popped up inside my head.

_Would I be able to leave?_

_No, _the answer was suddenly as clear as crystal to me. I couldn't simply go away, and faking my own death was definitely not an option. I had never been the one to give up easily, and I was suddenly confident that I'd be able to control myself around the people I loved if I wanted to; if I was presistant enough. But I wouldn't tell them what had happend to me; that would only frighten them, and they might never see me the same way they once had ever again.

"Yes," I said finally. "But I'm not gonna tell anyone what happened. Telling them would only make things even more difficult."

David nodded in response, and I guess I could say he was even a little proud, as if he had been hoping that I'd say that, but he had been afraid that because of my fear for everyone's safety, I'd say no. "Well, then I guess it's time," he said.

"Time for what?" I asked, frowning at him.

"You've been gone from the camp for about a week," he told me. "People already think that you're probably dead, and the coordinator will soon have to give up searching for you and call your family, since she doesn't know anything about what happened to you yet. She's actually my grandniece, and she knows about me. It's kind of a family secret, I guess. So I'd better fill her in on what happened as soon as we get to the camp."

"Wait, so this means that I'll finally meet..." I let the sentence float in the air.

"The humans," David said.

I was suddenly nervous at the thought that I'd soon be near the humans again, since I still had no idea if I'd be able to keep my new vampire instincts under control, but I knew that there was no sense in putting it off for much longer, considering that time was something I didn't have.

I just hoped everything went fine, or else I might never be able to go back to Seattle, and to the life I had before any of this happened.

* * *

**Author's Note: Wow, so now Freddie is a vampire! I wonder how that will turn out XP**

**And that mysterious guy is actually David! I bet you didn't see that coming XP (Or maybe you did, but anyway XD)**

**I've been thinking about changing the story summary, because for some reaosn, I don't like the current one anymore. Please tell me what you think! Should I keep the current one or should I change to the one below?**

**"When Freddie goes camping and he's attacked by something he didn't even know that existed, his life will never be the same. Will he be able to live like he once used to? How will his feelings for a certain blonde girl make it harder for him? Will their love survive? Read to find out! SEDDIE! :D"**

**Please tell me which one of those two you prefer! =)**

**Thank you so much for reading! ;D**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**

**:D**


	10. Chapter 10: Back To The Camp

**Author's Note: Hello people of the world! =)**

**I'm so sorry for not updating for so long, but school hasn't been giving me much free time, and I had a few technical difficulties with this chapter (and by that I mean that when I was almost done writing this, I lost everything I had written so far =/), so... yeah XP**

**Anyway, there's one more thing about the vampires in this fic that I need to tell you about. When they are thirsty, the veins under their eyes come out (just like on The Vampire Diaries). **

**I think this is all for now XP**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight!**

**And now... enjoy!**

**:D**

**EDIT (07/22/12): I'm finally done rewriting the ten first chapters of this story (yeah, I know, took me long enough XD), but I'm still going to edit the other ones, since I'm pretty sure there are a few mistakes in those as well. The mistakes aren't so terrible like the ones in the ten first ones, so the next chapters will only need to be edited, not rewritten, but I'm still going to mark them as edited like I did with the first ones. Thank you for you patience! =)**

* * *

Chapter 10: Back to the Camp

**Freddie's POV**

I had never felt so nervous in my whole life.

But, well, I was about to go back to the camp with no idea if I could actually control myself around humans, so how could it be any different?

I still hadn't fully gotten used to all of this. I had to admit that I was still expecting to just suddenly wake up and find out that this whole vampire thing had been a dream, and that I was still human, preferably at home. My life had changed completely so abruptly that it was probably understandable for me to feel like that. About a week ago, I had been human, but now, just look at where I was. I was a vampire, which was something I had never believed could be real. It was all still pretty unreal to be honest.

As David and I made our way to the camp, I couldn't help but wonder what I'd do if things went badly. According to David, it would probably be more difficult for me to control myself around people I knew than around total strangers, so if I wasn't able to keep myself under control in the camp, going back home was definitely not an option. The life I'd have after today depended completely on how well I could suppress my instincts at the camp. The problem was that I had no idea what to expect of it. Sure, David had explained to me what it would feel like to want to kill someone so badly it hurt, but according to what he told me, there wasn't much I could do to resist the urges apart from relying on my own self-control.

That last part didn't make me feel even the slightest bit better.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" David asked me after a while, breaking the silence. I could tell we were getting close to the camp, because I recognized the path we were walking along as the one we had taken when we had gone hiking about a week ago.

I hesitated for a moment before responding. "Yeah, I guess so," I replied, trying not to let my nervousness show.

David nodded in response, before gradually coming to a stop. I stopped as well, pausing when I was standing right next to him. "Wait here," he told me, and when I nodded in response, he vanished from sight in a blur.

He wasn't gone for long, though. In a matter of a few minutes, he was back, carrying a small box and a hand mirror.

"What's that for?" I asked, gesturing to the two items he had brought with him.

"Well, I figured you'd like to take a look at yourself before going back," he replied, handing me the mirror. "I got that from the cabin next to mine. I'll give it back before any of the girls there realizes it's missing."

It was just when I held the mirror in front of my eyes that I understood what he had meant by that. I didn't look any different from how I had before, maybe just a little paler, but what surprised me was the color of my eyes. My irises weren't golden like David's; they were a dark, crimson color, just like the eyes of the vampire who had turned me. I had already seen my reflection on the lake just a few miles away from the camp, but the water there wasn't exactly crystal clear, and I wasn't able to see just how intense the tone of red in my eyes was.

"Wow," I said, examining my eyes. "They're _really_ red."

"Yeah, but the color will fade eventually," David told me. "As long as you don't drink human blood, in about six months, your eyes will be the same color as mine."

I nodded in response. "What's in the box?" I asked, handing David back the mirror.

"Contact lenses," he told me, handing me the box. "Your eyes were almost the same color as mine when I was human, so I'm pretty sure no one will notice the difference."

David then showed me how to put the lenses on, and when I looked at myself on the mirror one more time, I realized that he had been right. The contacts were a slightly lighter shade of brown than my eyes used to be, but the difference was so minimal that I was sure no one would notice it.

I put the small box in the inside pocket of my jacket as we resumed making our way to the camp, and in no time at all, I found myself stepping out of the woods and into the enormous clearing where the camp was.

The camp was completely deserted, which wasn't a surprise, since it must have been around three in the morning or something, which meant that everyone was probably asleep inside their cabins. There was this sweet scent in the air, which I could only assume was from the humans, and I couldn't help but catch the sound of someone's heartbeat coming from the closest cabin. All that made me suddenly feel anxious, but I tried to ignore the feeling as we made our way through the cabins.

"You feel okay?" David asked me, and I nodded in response.

"Yeah," I replied. "Just a little anxious."

"That's normal," he told me. "Trust me, the fact that you haven't taken off in a killing spree the moment we got here is already a really good sign."

I didn't respond; I simply kept walking in silence as I tried to ignore the weird burning feeling that had started to build up in my throat. And soon enough, we reached my cabin.

"Well, I guess this is it, then," David said when we came to a stop just in front of my cabin. "You okay from here?"

"Yeah, I think so," I replied, nodding lightly, even though I wasn't exactly sure about that.

"Well, good luck then," he said.

"Thanks," I replied.

And with that, he was gone.

I hesitated for a moment outside the cabin, trying to calm myself down. I knew there was no turning back now, but I couldn't help feeling nervous about what I was about to do. I took a deep breath in a last effort to try to calm myself down before making my way over to the cabin, pausing when I was standing on the front porch. From there, I could hear Mike's calm heartbeat and breathing, which made me assume that he was asleep. I held up my hand and knocked on the door before I had the chance to chicken out of this. In response, I heard Mike grumbling something incoherent in his sleep, and I could only guess that hadn't been enough to wake him up. I knocked again, this times a little louder than before, and then I finally heard Mike getting up from his bed and making his way over to the door.

The door was swung open abruptly, allowing me to catch sight of Mike standing in the doorway. The burning feeling in my throat got a little more intense, but it wasn't something unbearable, especially if I tried to ignore the sound of his heartbeat ringing in my ears.

Mike stared at me for a moment, until his eyes suddenly went wide, which could only mean that he had recognized me.

"Freddie? Is that you?" Mike asked me, sounding shocked.

"Of course," I told him. "Who else could it be?"

"But I thought you were dead!" he said, eyeing me like he couldn't believe I was really there.

"Do I look dead?" I asked, and then mentally chuckled to myself at the irony of what I had just said.

"Well, no, but..." He shook his head, as if trying to clear up his thoughts. "I'm sorry, I'm just... shocked to see you here. I thought that the vampire and the wolf had killed you!"

I frowned at him. "What are you talking about?" I asked, pretending to be confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked, sounding confused as well. "We were attacked, remember? A vampire was about to kill us, but a huge wolf came out of nowhere and attacked him. The vampire knocked the wolf unconscious and carried you away from there to kill you, but the wolf went after him." He must have noticed my amused expression, because he quickly went on. "Don't you remember any of that?"

I let out a light laugh. "Dude, what the hell are you talking about?" I asked him, but I didn't give him time to respond. "We stopped to rest a little and I went for a walk to look for more wood for the campfire while you were asleep, but I got lost and couldn't find the way back."

"But..." He didn't seem to know how to end that.

"I already told you that vampires don't exist," I said, doing my best to sound convincing. "You probably dreamed about all that."

Mike eyed me for a moment, as if debating something inside his head, but fortunately, he soon gave in with a sigh.

"I guess you're right," he said finally. "I'm just glad that I didn't tell anyone about all that, because I thought they'd think I was crazy or something," he told me as he stepped aside, allowing me inside the cabin.

When I walked inside, I looked around, realizing that everything was exactly how it had been before we had left for the hiking trip, including my laptop lying right under my pillow.

"So, how did you survive all these days out there in the forest?" Mike asked me after closing the cabin door shut.

"Oh, I... I found a lake not really far from here for water, and there are several berry bushes around here," I answered. "But I spent most of my time looking for the way back to the camp."

"Well, that must have been hard," Mike commented, and I simply nodded in response. "Well, I'd love to keep talking, but I'm really tired, and I'm dying to go back to bed."

"Yeah, me too," I lied.

Soon enough, Mike was snoring on his bed, so I decided to go out a little bit, since staying in that room doing nothing at all apart from trying to ignore my roommate's heartbeat didn't seem like a good way to spend the rest of the night.

I soundlessly sneaked out the window and made my way out of the camp and back into the forest, headed to the meadow where the lake I had mentioned earlier was. It was a really peaceful place, and it was beautiful as well, especially under the dim moonlight that covered everything in sight. I sat down on a big rock by the lake, looking up at the moon as I thought back at everything that had happened to me this past week.

I was still having a hard time believing just how drastically my life had changed in such a short period of time, but there was nothing I could do about that. There was no way for me to become human again, so that meant that I'd have to learn to deal with all this and get used to it, and the sooner that happened, the better.

I'd obviously not tell anyone in Seattle about all this, since I was sure that no one would take it well if they ever found out about me. I knew that I was risking a lot by deciding to try to go back to my old life, but I also knew that I wouldn't be able to leave, even if I wanted to. I'd just have to do my best to keep this whole vampire thing a secret and hope that no one ever found out about it. But how long would it take for someone to realize the fact that I wasn't aging? And what if I somehow got hurt and the wound healed immediately? I didn't have the answers to those questions, or at least not yet, but I knew that simply worrying about them wouldn't do any good, so I decided to simply let things be and see how everything turned out before I began to worry about those things.

I stayed in the meadow for a while, but I began making my way back to the camp before sunrise, since I knew that I had to be back before anyone was up.

* * *

**Author's Note: So, Freddie is back to the camp! But how will people react? And what surprises await him? You'll find out in the next chapter! ;D**

**And now, I think you should hit that beautiful button down there that used to be green, but is not anymore! (Or am I just hallucinating? XDD)**

**Oh, and one more thing! I decided to change the summary of this fic. There was something in the old one that just didn't sound right to me XP But don't worry, it won't change anything at all in the story! ;)**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**

**:D**


	11. Chapter 11: Emails & Goodbyes

**Author's Note: Hey guys! =D I'm so sorry for not updating for so long! Please don't hate me XD**

**First of all, I want to thank you all for the amazing reviews I've been getting for this story =) They make me so happy, you have no idea =D**

**Well, during the time I didn't update anything, I got even more obsessed with TVD than I already was, and that kind of influenced on a few things here, like a few changes on the vampire species of this fic =P I'll list their characteristics below, but the changes won't make any difference in the story. None of the things I changed had been established in the story yet, I had only mentioned them in the author's notes. Well, here we go...**

**The vampires are a mixture of the The Vampire Diaries ones and the Twilight ones. Just like both of those, they are extremely faster and stronger than humans, but their strength depends on their age (the older the vampire is, the stronger he gets, like on TVD) and on their diet (a vampire who feeds on human blood is much stronger than a vampire who feeds on animal blood). Also depending on their diet, the color of their eyes changes (crimson red - human bood; golden - animal blood), and it also changes when they're hungry, which makes them earn a black color. Also, when they're hungry, they have a burning feeling in their throat, black veins come out on the skin under their eyes, their irises become black, the white part of their eyes becomes red and their canine teeth turn into fangs. Their face also changes when they're angry and can't control it, but it happens at will too. They don't sleep, and the sun doesn't do anything to them, just like garlic. Their weakness in an herb called vervain (the same one from TVD).**

**Well, I think that's it for now XD**

**Oh, also, I still have something to say. In a review, BellamySeddie mentioned that vampires don't have reflections, and I'd like to clear that up to everyone. As the vampires of this story are a mixture of ones from The Vampire Diaries and the ones from Twilight, and vampires have reflections in ****both**** of those, I'm keeping it that way. So here, vampires do have reflections.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight.**

**Enjoy! =)**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 07/22/12**

* * *

Chapter 11: E-mails & Goodbyes

**Freddie's POV**

Nobody had seen me coming back to the camp that night, so I wasn't surprised to see many shocked faces staring at me the next morning, mostly because they had probably thought I had died in the woods. The coordinator of the camp kept telling me that I really should be examined by a doctor because I could have hurt myself internally or something while I was out there in the forest. Seriously, that woman would get along with my mother perfectly. But after hearing me telling her that I was fine for over three hours straight, she finally got that idea out of her head.

I mean, being examined by a doctor wouldn't be a good thing for me. They'd probably send me to a hospital immediately saying that I had symptoms of, well… death.

After that, what I did in the camp was basically get away from the stupid classes and speeches about how spoons could kill you if you used them the wrong way and how pencils could make you lose a finger, and the fact that the people there were pretty slow and that I could move fast enough not to be noticed by anyone, apart from maybe a quick and light breeze, helped a lot. So while my campmates were being tortured hearing useless things I had grown up hearing, I usually spent my time using the internet, trying to keep myself updated on what was going on outside this place.

And when I logged into my e-mail for the first time after over a week, I realized that the people here in the camp weren't the only ones who had thought something had happened to me.

I realized that when I read the e-mails my mom, Carly and even Sam had sent me. I hadn't replied to their e-mails for a little over a week, so I guessed I shouldn't have been surprised by how many unread messages I had in my inbox. I had spent my last human day in the forest hiking, then three days… well, you know, transforming - just thinking of it already made me shudder - and then about five more days in the forest, away from the human world and any connection to it. Yeah, people had some reasons to worry about me.

Anyway, back to the point. The e-mails. Well, my mother's first e-mails all said pretty much the same thing.

_My dear Fredbear,_

_Are you enjoying your time at the best camp of the world? Oh, I'm sure you're loving it! Don't forget to send me an e-mail every day telling me that you're safe and happy, or else I'll send the police to check on you, and you know that I'm not kidding!_

_Love,_

_Mommy._

Yeah, I know, if any of my friends - especially Sam - ever saw this, I'd be the joke of the century, and that's why I deleted that e-mail immediately. The others she sent me some time after the hiking trip were a bit different from that one, though.

_Fredward Benson!_

_If you don't send me an e-mail by the end of this week, I swear I'll be there in that camp in less time than it takes for you to say 'tick bath'. I mean it!_

Luckily, that e-mail had been sent less than a week ago, so I had time to reply to it, telling my mother that we had gone hiking, and the kind response I got from her wasn't exactly what I had been expecting.

_Hiking? HIKING? What do you mean you went hiking with the rest of the camp? What if you got lost? What if you cut yourself in a tree and had no band-aid near you? You could lose an arm or a leg out there with no medical help nearby! When you come back I'll have a serious talk with you about not telling me where you were! I didn't hear anything from you for over a week!_

After readying her reply, I sent her an e-mail explaining to her how the coordinator of the camp had brought many camp employees and more than five huge first-aid kits to make sure everyone was safe, and that she had nothing to worry about. She didn't agree completely with what I said, but at least she seemed to have calmed down a little bit, and that was already enough to make her change her mind about calling the camp coordination, which would certainly lead to her finding out that I had spent several days in the woods and that people had thought they'd never see me again.

Carly had also sent me a few e-mails, but those weren't as psychotic as my mother's.

_Dear Freddie,_

_I know that you might hate this camp and everything related to it, but you shouldn't just stop replying to your mother like this. You know what she did to me yesterday? She barged in my apartment while I was sleeping on the couch, and then began yelling at me and telling me that it was Sam's and my fault that you weren't replying to her e-mails and that we were a bad influence on you! Please, Freddie, you're the only one that can make her calm down and not try to kill me!_

_Carly._

I had to admit that I felt pretty bad for Carly for having to go through that, but I knew I couldn't have done anything to avoid it.

To be honest, I was surprised when I saw that Sam had also sent me an e-mail. I mean, she had never been the one to show much affection toward anything related to me, so I was a bit surprised to read her name in my inbox, but the shock wore off as soon as I read the short message she had sent me.

_Yo, dork…_

_So, Carly told me to send you this so… yeah. Well… how's everything going? I mean… your mother is crazier than ever, so… you should send her an e-mail, you know… yeah._

_Sam._

Yeah, that surely wasn't a really deep or inspiring message, but I knew that was the best I'd probably ever get from Sam. I mean, it wasn't like she felt anything for me like I did for her. Okay, I'd better not go down that road again. I knew that she pretty much hated me and that she'd never love me but it's not like I had chosen to fall in love with her in the first place. Alright, Freddie, focus, focus…

That had been happening a lot lately. It seemed that since I turned, I missed her even more than I did before. It was just… weird. I had been trying to keep those thoughts in the back of my mind while I waited anxiously for the day I'd finally leave this camp, until the night before that day finally arrived.

It didn't seem like a normal Friday night at all, mainly because there wasn't anyone wandering through the camp after dinner, probably because everyone was busy packing up for the next day's departure.

When everyone was finally asleep, I left the camp as silently as a ghost. Mike, my roommate, couldn't even realize I was gone, because usually once he was asleep, only a nuclear explosion could get him to wake up… and someone knocking at the room door in the middle of the night, but that was not the point right now.

So while people were having dreams with the next day's trip back to wherever they had come from, I was there, escaping from the camp for some time alone. My favorite place to spend time at was the meadow, which wasn't really far away from the camp. There was a huge lake in the center of it, and the view of the surroundings was truly beautiful. It was a really good place for you to just sit down and think, simply enjoying the surroundings, which was an habit I had gained, since I didn't have much to do in the middle of the night while everyone else in the camp was asleep.

That place was exactly where I was headed to, and when I got there, I caught sight of a familiar blonde guy throwing rocks at the water as he tried to make them skip on the lake surface, but he didn't seem to be succeeding at all. I stood a few meters behind him, far enough for him not to notice me, and watched his miserably failing attempts to make the rocks skip on the water. David tried five more times, until I couldn't hold my laughter back anymore and chuckled at him, which made him suddenly turn around, startled.

"Yeah, keep laughing at me," he said, less tense now that he had realized it was just me. "This is not as easy as it seems." He tried one more time, but the rock vanished from sight as soon as it hit the water.

"And it's not as difficult as you make it seem," I told him jokingly, and after grabbing one rock from the ground, I threw it the correct way, making the rock skip four times before disappearing into the lake.

"Very funny," David said, rolling his eyes as he tried one more time, but he failed once again. "Okay, I'm not really good at this," he annouced.

"Really?" I said sarcastically as I walked up to where he was.

"So, how's your last day at the camp going?" David asked, bending forward to pick up another rock from the ground.

"Just like any other," I admitted, shrugging lightly. "The only difference is that I know that I'll leave tomorrow and that I'll never come back to this place ever again," I added, watching as David threw another rock and it skipped once on the surface.

"YES!" David punched the air in a somewhat victorious manner. He looked like a nine-year-old who had just gotten the gift he was hoping he'd get for Christmas.

I laughed lightly at him. "Well, I think I'd better go and finish packing up my stuff," I told him. I was about to begin making my way out of the meadow and back to the camp to leave the boy alone so he could keep playing with his rocks when David called after me, and I turned back around to face him.

"Hey, Benson! Don't forget that you still owe me!" he said with a small hint of smile in his voice.

"Because you helped me when I turned?" I asked, a bit taken aback.

"No, because I got Carol to stop bugging you about calling your parents about the whole 'lost in the forest' thing," he said, chuckling.

Did I forget to mention that the coordinator of the camp, Caroline, had only stopped bugging me about being examined by a doctor and calling my mother after David had a little… conversation with her? She was his grandniece, even though they lied to everyone that she was his aunt, and their family knew about David's secret. Let's just say that after that conversation she stopped bugging me and started shooting nervous glances in my direction every now and then during the camp reunions - well, during the beginning of those, because I usually sneaked out after sitting there for less than five minutes - and whenever we walked past each other in the camp.

"Oh, about that," I said "Well, what can I say? I really do owe you."

"I know," he replied, smiling.

"Bye, dude," I said.

"Bye," he replied. "See you around, I guess."

"Yeah, see ya," I replied, and as I walked away from him, I grabbed and threw one last rock in the direction of the lake, but didn't stay to watch it hit the water.

But I still was able to hear it when the rock skipped five times on the surface. "Oh, man, c'mon!" I heard David say under his breath, which made me chuckle on my way back to the camp.

* * *

**Author's Note: Yay! It seems that Freddie will be home soon! I wonder what will happen when he gets there... Hehe ;)**

**I'm trying to go back to updating regularly like I used to do some time ago, so there should be a new chapter up soon =P (But please don't kill me if there isn't! XD)**

**Anyway, thank you so much for reading! =D**

**Don't forget, you'll get a cookie if you review! Oh, wait, you won't... Well, you should review anyway! ****=P**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	12. Chapter 12: Back Home

**Author's Note: Okay, I know, I suck at updating XD Sorry about that =P**

**Thank you all for the amazing feedback! You guys rock =)**

**Anyway, just now I realized that I kinda forgot to say half of what I had to say about the vampires in my last author's note, so yeah, I'll finish it now =P**

**The vampires here can't use mind compulsion like on TVD (I know, it's sad, but I had to cut that out XD). They can eat food, but it's not necessary and it's pointless for them to eat it because it doesn't sustain them at all, and it tastes horrible for them. They have extremely heightened senses (vision, hearing). Also, when they have their 'vampire face' out, with the fangs and black veins, the white part of their eyes becomes red (like on TVD) and their irises become black, just like when they're thirsty. In order to become a vampire, you have to be bitten by one, and then the venom will start to spread, beginning the transformation, and you feel like your body is burning for three whole days (like in Twilight). Their skin temperature is a tiny bit colder than humans', but not too much, so it can go unnoticeable by people. They are only a tiny bit paler than they were as humans, but that could go unnoticed too. There are four ways to kill a vampire: stake to the heart, heart removal, decapitation and burning them with fire (like on TVD). Their weaknesses are wood and vervain. They can be wounded by wood, and vervain can get them very weak if ingested or injected and it burns them if it comes in contact with their skin.**

**Also, I noticed that I called their thirst 'hunger' in my last author's note, but that wasn't on purporse XD I started this story calling it thirst, and I'll keep it that way. I guess I just kinda lost the habit of calling it 'thirst' because I've been watching way too much TVD... Oh, well XD I'll try my best not to do that again XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight!**

**Enjoy! =)**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 07/26/12**

* * *

Chapter 12: Back Home

**Freddie's POV**

Finally, it was here - the day I'd finally go back home. I had gone hunting the night before, just to make sure that my thirst was under control, and now I had everything packed up and was ready to leave this place and never come back. It was almost time to go and the buses that would take everyone back to wherever they had come from were probably already on their way to the camp.

When the buses finally arrived, everybody got inside them hurriedly and without a single moment of hesitation. I guess everybody just wanted to get out of that camp as soon as possible, just like me. Well, except for that kid who grabbed Ms. Caroline's leg and wouldn't let go of her while yelling something about how he was afraid of spoons and that he couldn't leave the camp, or else he'd die.

Yeah, I don't get how that kid exists either.

Anyway, I took a seat near the door, and after some more minutes of preparations and cheking if everyone was in the right bus, all the buses finally left the camp.

I soon began to get annoyed with the bus ride, since I knew that I could have gone to Seattle and back to the camp at least twice and we hadn't even arrived yet. And after what had seemed like an eternity and a half had already passed, at least for me, my bus finally arrived in Seattle.

I started looking for my mother as soon as I got off the bus, but I couldn't find her in the middle of all those people. It would be a lot easier if I already knew her scent, but I didn't. As I was walking through the crowd of parents, relatives, kids and teenagers, I heard someone calling out my name, and when I turned around to see who it was, I spotted Mike walking toward me with a girl following him close behind.

"Hey, Freddie!" Mike called out, waving his arm as he tried to get my attention.

"Hey!" I replied, waving back to show him that I had seen him.

"Freddie, you remember when I told you that my sister wanted to meet you, right?" he asked as soon as he reached me, pointing at the girl standing right next to him, who kept staring at me with a big smile on her face.

"Yeah," I said, and I was pretty sure that I had already understood what was going on, but I let him keep going. According to Mike, his sister was a huge fan of iCarly, and he had told me that she'd probably have a heart attack when she found out that her brother had gone to the same camp I had.

"Well, she made me do this," Mike explained. "Freddie, this is Martha. Martha, this is Freddie." He gestured from me to her, then from her to me. Martha just stood there for moment, until suddenly, without any kind of warning, she leaned in and hugged me. I was pretty tense at first, afraid that I might snap because of the sudden lack of distance between us, but when I realized that the burning feeling in my throat was bearable and I could control the urge to bite her right then and there, I relaxed a little. After a few seconds, she pulled away from me abruptly, smiled widely at me, and then took off running without a single word or glance behind.

Weird.

I turned to Mike with a confused expression on my face, but he simply shrugged at me. "Please don't ask," he said. "She's always like this." He paused for a moment, letting his eyes wander over the crowd of peoeple that surrounded us as he clearly tried to find his sister. "Well, I gotta go now. It was great to meeting, dude." He held out his hand, smiling a bit.

"You too. See you around," I said as I shook his hand, smiling back.

"See ya," he replied, and then probably went after his sister.

It didn't take me long to find my mom after that, because many people had already left or were leaving, and she nearly ran in my direction when she saw me. I don't know why, but when she was close to where I was, I felt the fire in my throat suddenly become way worse than it had been with the other people in the camp, or even with Mike's sister.

I swallowed dryly and quickly took a deep breath, and then tried to breathe as little as possible. _So David was right when he told me that my thirst would get worse when__ I'm near people I know,_ I thought to myself as my mother approached me with a huge smile on her face._ Well, that could be a problem, but I think I can still control myself with my mother, so I might be able to do it with everyone else._

When my mother reached me, she instantly pulled me into a tight hug, and I tensed up involuntarily. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable because of the burning feeling in my throat caused by her suddenly proximity when she finally let go of me.

"How are you? Are you okay? Did you have fun? You didn't do anything dangerous, did you?" my mother asked me as soon as she pulled away from me. She kept asking stuff like that all the way back home.

When we finally got to Bushwell Plaza, I was relieved to finally be home again. When we got to our apartment, I put my stuff in my room, paying attention to every little detail I could find that my human eyes had never even dreamed about seeing. This would surely take some time to get used to.

After a few minutes, I made my way back to the living room and began walking toward the front door, intending to go over to Carly's.

"Mom, I'm going to Carly's," I told my mother, who was in the kitchen.

My mother suddenly came into view as she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. "Wait, Freddie!" she called after me. "Don't you want to tell me more about the camp? I missed you!"

"Mom, you spent the whole car ride asking me stuff about the camp," I told her. "Don't you think that I've already told you enough for now?"

My mother sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay. But don't you want to eat a little? You must be hungry after that long bus ride."

"No, thanks, mom. I'm good," I told her.

"Okay, then," she replied, before making her way back into the kitchen to continue whatever she had been doing in there while I was in my room.

I left the apartment before my mom had the chance to start asking me more questions about the camp, but I hesitated a bit once I reached the hallway. If the thirst had gotten worse with my mom, would it be even worse with Carly or Sam? I really had no idea if it would, and that made me suddenly feel extremely nervous. Well, maybe it would be even easier. Or maybe not. The only way to find out which one it would be was to walk inside, but did I really want to put them in this kind of danger?

I paused, my hand resting on the door handle as I listened carefully to the sounds coming from inside the Shay's apartment. I could hear someone's heartbeat in the living room and another heartbeat, this one a little bit slower, that was probably coming from another room, since the sound of it wasn't as clear as the first one.

I assumed that Carly was in the living room and Spencer was in some other room, probably in his bedroom. I tried to find another heartbeat in the apartment, but I didn't find any, so I assumed that Sam hadn't arrived yet. That was, if she was even coming to Carly's today. I took a deep breath and knocked lightly on the door.

"It's open!" I heard Carly's voice yelling from the other side of the door. I slowly opened the door and saw Carly sitting in front of the computer. When she saw me walking in, a smile broke out in her lips and she instantly stood up from the chair she had been sitting on. "Freddie, you're back!" Carly exclaimed, still smiling as she ran up to where I was standing and pulled me into a hug. I didn't breathe at all when she did that.

"Yeah, finally," I said, and smiled, hugging her back lightly, being careful not to put too much strength into it.

I took a short breath, just to see if it was safe, and noticed that the pain in my throat wasn't too bad; it was actually like the one I had felt when I was with my mom. So maybe I would really be able to resist it. Maybe I'd be able resist it just fine, and maybe I wouldn't need to go away, or to disappear, or to even fake my own death just to be able to get out of everyone's life completely in order to make them safe.

After pulling away from me, Carly told me that Sam would be there at any second, and then she started asking me about the camp. I basically told her what I had already said in the e-mails I had sent her; about the camp being the most boring place in the world and stuff. Spencer emerged from his room a few minutes later and asked me the same thing Carly had. I summarized what I had told Carly, since I didn't feel like repeating the whole thing, and after talking for some time, Spencer excused himself saying that he needed to check something upstairs. Carly sat back down in front of the computer and I took the seat across from her. I was feeling a little nervous about meeting Sam again, but I didn't really know why.

After a few more minutes, we suddenly heard a loud thud coming from upstairs, and then the sound of Spencer screaming echoed through the apartment, which came out a little bit more high-pitched than he had probably intended it to. At the sound, Carly quickly stood up and ran toward the stairs.

"Spencer, what did you do this time?" Carly yelled, the sound of her voice a bit too loud for my ears.

"Uh... nothing! Nothing! Who said I was doing anything?" Spencer's nervous voice replied from upstairs.

"I'll be right back," Carly told me, before marching up the stairs, leaving me alone in the living room.

But things didn't stay that way for much time, since I suddenly heard a heartbeat approaching the apartment, and its owner's footsteps started to get louder at each second. I couldn't be sure of who it was until the person came to a stop right in front of the Shays' apartment door, and I instantly began to grow even more nervous inside than I already was as soon as I realized who it was.

Sam.

She hesitated at the door for a brief moment, but she soon yanked the open without even bothering to knock, just like she always did. And before she even came into view, I was able to breathe in her scent.

And that was when I realized that things wouldn't be as easy as I had hoped.

* * *

**Author's Note: What is it with me and cliffhangers? XD**

**Hehe, so, Freddie is back home! Yay! Isn't that great? =P**

**But I couldn't ****just ****let things be easy for him, could I? Hehe ;D**

**So, you know, I haven't watched iToe Fat Cakes yet, which is pretty depressing for me, so you know what can cheer me up? ****Yep, reviews! =)**

**Thanks for reading! =)**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	13. Chapter 13: The Scent

**Author's Note: I had a few problems with this chapter, so that's why it took me so long, and the fact that now I'm back to school didn't help either =/ Anyway, sorry for the long wait =P**

**And guess what? I forgot to say something else about the vampires, and I didn't even say anything about the werewolves. *facepalm* So, here it goes:**

**Vampires can't die of starvation, but if they go too long without feeding (about two weeks), they grow weak, their skin starts to desiccate and soon, they're not able to move. So they basically turn into a 'living mummy'. But they go back to normal as soon as they feed again. (Just like on TVD).**

**Werewolves are stronger than humans in human form, and in wolf form, they can be even stronger than young vampires. But during a full moon, they are stronger than normally. They can turn into a wolf at will, and the transformation is quick and painless (like in Twilight). They can also move really fast in human form (pretty much like a vampire, but not as fast as one) and when they do, their irises earn a bright golden color, and their eyes in wolf form are also golden (like on TVD). They heal really fast, and their senses of hearing and smell are also heightened (like in both TVD and Twilight). They ****can't**** hear each other's thoughts while in wolf form. Their main weakness is an herb called wolfsbane (the same one from TVD), and it has the same poisonous effects vervain has on vampires.**

**Okay, I think that's it for now XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight.**

**Enjoy! ;)**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 07/27/12**

* * *

Chapter 13: The Scent

**Sam's POV**

I was late, and I knew it, but I didn't want to arrive too early at Bushwell Plaza, because if I did, Carly and Freddie would probably think that I was excited to see Freddie again, and even if that was actually true, I'd like to keep them both thinking otherwise. When I walked into the lobby, I saw Lewbert sleeping and snoring loudly while leaning back in his chair with his feet resting on the desk right in front of him.

What a great doorman.

When I reached the eighth floor, I hesitated with my hand resting on the Shays' door handle. I knew that Freddie was already there, and just thinking about it made me feel a bit nervous. I seriously didn't know why, but it just did. After a few seconds, I finally managed to calm myself down and yanked the door open without even bothering to knock, just like I did every day.

Until that moment, I had never realized just how gorgeous Freddie really was. I knew that he was extremely good-looking, but not that much. He looked like he couldn't exist in this world; like he was too perfect to be real. I had to be careful not to trip, because for a moment I was completely blinded by the sight of him.

When I was finally able to remember my name, I quickly recomposed myself and acted like nothing had happened.

"Hey, look who's back! Fredward!" I said after I had closed the front door shut behind me, using my usual I-don't-really-care tone.

"Hey, Sam…" Freddie said, his voice coming out a bit weird, like it was caught in his throat or something. It was just then that I noticed that he looked pretty tense, but I had no idea why.

"Uh... Are you okay?" I asked, eyeing him carefully. When I was standing a bit closer to him, I was able to see that he didn't look very well. He looked like he wasn't feeling well, and he had looked down the moment I walked through the front door. It was like he was avoiding to look at me in the eye or something.

After a moment, he finally looked up at me, and then he simply stared at me for a few seconds, as if wondering how he should respond. I raised an eyebrow at his weird behavior, but I didn't say anything; I simply waited patiently for his answer.

"Yeah... I'm… I'm fine. I just... I'm not feeling very well," he finally said. "I think I'd better go home, I... I'll see you at school." And with that, he suddenly stood up from the chair he had been sitting on and rushed to the front door, before exiting the apartment, leaving me staring at where he had been sitting with a puzzled expression on my face.

What was that about?

**Freddie's POV**

The moment I breathed in Sam's scent, my mind went almost completely blank, and the only thing I could think about was the possible taste of her blood. Her scent was honestly the best thing I had ever felt in my whole life.

Our eyes connected for a moment, but I looked down abruptly when I felt my face changing in an effort to hide the sight of the black veins under my eyes. It took me a few seconds, but fortunately, I soon managed to make my face go back to normal.

I felt like jumping on Sam and biting her neck right then and there, but I somehow managed to hold myself still. I don't even know how I controlled myself, I'm just happy I did.

I stopped breathing about a second after I had breathed in her scent, but it was already too late. Her scent was the most delicious thing that was possible to exist in the world, if something so good could even be real.

On the other hand, the pain in my throat was the worst pain I'd ever felt. Well, almost. It wasn't even half as bad as the pain I had felt during my transformation into a vampire, but it was still horrible. It felt just like someone had shoved a melting piece of iron down my throat, and it burned every spot of my throat it came in contact with.

I was afraid that if I let myself relax for even a split second, I would not be able to stop myself from doing what I had been afraid of doing since the very beginning. My biggest fear was that I'd end up attacking someone I cared about, and that someone, of all people, ended up being Sam.

"Hey, look who's back! Fredward!" Sam's voice suddenly brought me back to reality.

"Hey, Sam..." I managed to speak, but with those words, my air supply was gone. I tried to think of a way to get out of there; to be far away from her, since that way her scent wouldn't reach me and I would finally be able to think clearly, but I just couldn't think straight. I tried my best, and after a few seconds, my mind finally seemed to clear up a bit.

I somehow managed to realize that I'd better go home and try to calm down, since her scent wouldn't be there, or at least not so strong like here, but to tell her where I'd go, I'd need air, and that meant that I'd need to breathe again. I hesitantly breathed in through my mouth, instead of through my nose, because that way I wouldn't need to feel her scent again, but that didn't help much, since now that she was standing closer to me I could feel the warmth of her blood running through her veins emanating from her skin, and the sound of her heartbeat ringing in my ear definitely wasn't helping.

I had to get out of there, and I had to do it fast, because at each second that I spent there I could feel myself getting closer to the edge, and I knew that I could lose control and snap at any second.

My gums hurt bad where my fangs wanted to come out, but I held them back with all my will. But even though I was somehow managing to hold the fangs and veins back, I still avoided to look up at Sam again. If I lost control for just a split second and my face changed again for barely a moment and Sam saw it, I didn't know what I'd tell her, and I sure didn't want to tell her the truth. And also, I was avoiding to look up at her in an effort not to stare at the veins of her neck, which would only make things even more difficult for me.

"Hey... Are you okay?" Sam asked.

I finally made myself look up at her, even though I knew that was pretty risky, and I couldn't help but stare at her for a few seconds. While I was still human, I already thought that she was beautiful, but only now I could see how gorgeous she really was. My gaze slowly drifted from her face to her neck, and my mouth suddenly began to water...

_Focus, Freddie! _I told myself harshly. I could feel that if I waited just one more second, I'd lose control completely, so I finally spoke and answered Sam's question, using all the air I had gotten.

"Yeah, I'm… I'm fine. I just... I'm not feeling very well," I said, and technically, it wasn't a lie. I then took another deep breath through my mouth. "I think I'd better go home, I... I'll see you at school." In a moment I was sitting on the chair, and in the other I was already on my feet. I walked to the front door and exited the apartment hurriedly and without a single glance behind, but I still managed to catch a glimpse of Sam's confused expression when I walked past her and made my way toward the front door.

I walked inside my apartment quickly and didn't even greet my mom, who was still in the kitchen. I simply ran to my room, locking the door behind me. I breathed in slowly, checking if it was safe, and then sighed in relief. I could finally breathe. Not that I actually needed to, but it was good to know that I could do it without fearing that I'd snap at any second and bite Sam.

I hurried into my bathroom and looked at my reflection in the mirror after taking my contact lenses off. I finally let myself relax a bit, and in that moment, my face changed. My irises suddenly turned black as the white part of my eyes earned a red color. The veins under my eyes popped out, and when I opened my mouth, I saw that my fangs were exposed, and I couldn't hold any of that back.

This was exactly what I had feared the most since the very beginning - that I'd lose control. And I honestly don't even know how I didn't.

Now that I couldn't feel Sam's scent anymore, I could finally think clearly, but I couldn't understand why all that had happened. I just couldn't explain why the scent of Sam's blood made me lose my mind like that. I seriously didn't have the full control of myself, but I somehow managed to stop myself from killing her with the little control I had.

I heard hurried footsteps coming from the living room and making their way toward my room. I instantly knew that it was my mom, but I honestly didn't feel like talking to her at the moment.

"Freddie? Freddie, what happened?" she asked me worriedly from outside my room, trying to open the door, and I was suddenly thankful that I had locked it.

"Nothing… I'm just not feeling very well," I repeated what I had told Sam just a minute ago.

"How are you feeling? Freddie, open the door, I need to check how you are! Are you feeling sick? Dizzy?"

"I just need to lay down a bit and rest, mom," I lied. "I'm good!"

"Freddie, open the door," she insisted.

"Mom, I've already told you that I'm fine," I repeated, being as gentle as I could manage to.

"Are you sure? I mean, I could give you some medicine if you let me-" she started, but I quickly cut her off.

"I'm fine, mom!" I said, my voice coming out a bit more harsh than I meant it to.

"Oh..." She sounded pretty taken aback by the tone of my voice. "Okay, then," she said hesitantly."Goodnight, dear."

"Goodnight," I replied.

I waited until I heard her footsteps fade away in the end of the hallway before walking toward my bed and letting myself fall onto it, and just then I felt my face going back to normal. I sighed as I closed my eyes, trying to understand what the hell had just happened in the Shays' apartment.

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**Author's Note: I love reviews ;)**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	14. Chapter 14: Late Night Visitor

**Author's Note: I hope this slightly longer chapter makes up for the long wait! XP**

**And here goes some more information about both vampires and werewolves! =D**

**A vampire bite is lethal to a werewolf (like in Twilight), and a werewolf bite (in wolf form only) is lethal to a vampire (like on TVD). The werewolf gene is transmitted hereditarily to both male and female children (like in both TVD and Twilight), but a human will become a werewolf after being bitten by a werewolf (in wolf form only) during a full moon, and the gene will then be carried by all the next generations. A werewolf can trigger the werewolf gene by either coming in contact with a vampire (like in Twilight) or by killing someone (like on TVD).**

**Okay, I think that's enough for now XD (But I honestly feel like I'm forgetting about something... XD).**

**Oh, and about that thing I said in the very beginning of the story, about the big forest and all? Forget that XD Even though Seattle and Forks are pretty close to each other, I decided to leave Mystic Falls in Virginia, where it's supposed to be XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight.**

**Enjoy! ;D**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 07/29/12**

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Chapter 14: Late Night Visitor

**Sam's POV**

I stared at the front door for a long moment after it had closed shut loudly behind Freddie, frowning as I tried to understand what had just happened, but no reasonable explanation crossed my mind. Freddie said that he wasn't feeling very well, but I had a weird feeling that there was something else to it.

But I didn't have much time to think about it, because Carly suddenly walked down the stairs. And as soon as she reached the living room, she looked around, clearly confused.

"Where's Freddie?" Carly asked me.

"He, uh... He said that he wasn't feeling very well, so he went home," I told her, shrugging. I decided not to say anything about him acting weird or anything. I mean, maybe I was just being paranoid because he left right after I got here. He was probably telling the truth about being sick.

But there was this little voice in the back of my head that kept telling me otherwise.

**Freddie's POV**

A few hours had passed since I had gotten home, but I was still just as confused as I had been in the moment I left Carly's apartment.

I had thought about every single thing David had taught me about being a vampire, but I was pretty sure that he hadn't mentioned anything even similar to what I had gone through just a few hours ago.

After I met my mom when I came back from the camp, I had thought that I wouldn't really have problems with controling my thirst when I was around people I knew, and I was even more sure about that when I met Carly again. But now I could see that things were different with Sam. And since the moment I realized that, one single question had been haunting me to no end, but I honestly couldn't find an answer to it.

Why? Why did it have to be different with her?

I sighed in frustration, breaking the dead silence that had taken over my room.

If only I could understand why this was happening, maybe then it would be easier to deal with it.

My thoughts were interrupted by a really low sound coming from outside my window, out in the balcony. I tensed up abruptly, before moving my gaze over to the window. I would have probably just shrugged it off if I were still human, thinking that it could have been a bird or something like that, but, as weird as it may sound, it was like I could actually feel that the noise hadn't been made by a bird, or any kind of animal for that matter.

I got up from the bed and walked up to the window, and for a brief second, I could have sworn that I had seen someone moving by the corner of my eye, but it was too fast to be human.

It seemed like my body knew exactly what to do. I instantly stopped breathing, and my muscles were more tense than they had ever been before. I could hear every single sound around me, even the faint sound of my mother's calm breathing as she slept in her room just down the hallway. But even though my hearing seemed to be even better than it already was because I had apparently gone into extreme alert mode, I still couldn't hear anyone out there.

I rested my right hand on the side of the window, ready to yank it open at any second, and then closed my eyes, trying to hear things around me even better, and that was when I was able to hear a brief movement. It was so brief that it barely made any sound, but it was enough to confirm to me that there was actually someone out there, and I took that as my cue to act.

I pushed the window open in a blur, and in less than a second, I was out in the balcony, but whoever had previously been standing on the place I now found myself at had moved out of there in a blur and was apparently a bit faster than me. I heard another brief sound coming from behind me, which made me turn around in a blur, but I paused abruptly when I finally realized who was standing right in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest.

David.

"What are you doing here?" I asked without even thinking about it.

"Well, I was expecting something like 'Oh, hey dude, how are you? It's nice to see you again', but I think that's all I'll get, aren't I right?" David said, and I rolled my eyes at him and his usual jokingly tone.

"Sorry about that," I apologized, chuckling. "I just... you kind of caught me by surprise. I wasn't really expecting to see you again. I mean, at least not any time soon," I admitted, shrugging lightly.

"Well, my grandniece kept insisting that I should check on you, and when she mentioned your mother's name, I got a little curious," he explained, and I simply stared at him with a confused expression on my face.

"Uh... What do you mean?" I asked, frowning at him.

He shrugged lightly. "It rang a bell inside my head when she told me that she's Marissa Benson, so I was kind of curious to know how she's doing."

It took me a few seconds to be able to respond to that. "Wait... You know my mother?"

"Yeah, kind of," he replied, shrugging once again. "I haven't actually met her, but I knew Matt," he added, and it seemed like he had actually expected me to understand that, but instead, I simply stared at him with a puzzled expression on my face, and just then he seemed to finally realize that I had no idea who he was talking about. "Wait... Oh, you don't know about it, do you?" he whispered, and it seemed like he was talking more to himself than to me.

"Know about what?" I asked.

David hesitated for a moment before responding. "I really... I really shouldn't be the one to tell you about it, and it happened so much time ago..." He shook his head lightly. "And anyway, you'll probably hear about it soon, so I think that I really shouldn't say anything." He was clealy trying to convince me to drop the subject, but now that he had already mentioned it, I had grown extremely curious.

"David, come on, what is it?" I insisted, but he just wouldn't give in.

"Freddie, trust me, I'm not the right person to tell you," he repeated. "Just drop it."

I hesitated for a moment, but I ended up giving in with a sigh. "Okay, fine," I said, not sounding happy at all.

"So, anyway, why don't I do what I came here to do in the first place?" He quickly took his chance and changed the subject of the conversation. "How are you? You haven't killed anyone, have you?" He was still using his jokingly tone, probably expecting to get a different answer from the one I was about to give him.

"No, but... I was pretty close," I admitted, sitting down on the metal staircase on the corner of the balcony. I was looking down at the floor, but I could feel David's curious gaze laid on my face.

"How close?" David asked, his voice suddenly earning a serious tone, and I hesitated for a brief moment before answering, still avoiding his gaze.

"A lot closer than I should ever go..." I trailed off for a moment. "I almost lost control, and I just have no idea what came over me."

"A few more details would be great, you know?" he said, and I sighed.

"It's just that... Whenever I'm around anyone I know, I feel fine. Of course, the thirst is still there, but it's not something unbearable. I thought everything would be fine, but then I met _her_ again..." I let my voice hang in the air.

"Oh god, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend," David said.

"She's not my girlfriend," I corrected him quickly.

"Whatever, even if she's not your girlfriend... You still have feelings for her, don't you?" David asked, and I nodded lightly in response.

"I'm pretty sure I'm in love with her, and I have been for some time now," I admitted. I had never told anyone about my feelings for Sam, but I knew that David needed to know about that to explain to me what was going on. And also, I actually considered him to be my friend. And it wasn't like he would tell anyone I knew about it, anyway.

"Well, I guess that pretty much explains it all," he said, and I waited for him to go on, but I soon realized he wouldn't.

"I still don't get it," I said, finally making myself look up at him.

He rested his back against the brick wall right next to him, folding his arms over his chest once again. "When I told you that it would probably be harder for you to control yourself around people you already knew, or putting that into other words, that you cared about, do you remember what I told you about why that might happen?"

I thought about it for a second before answering. "It's because since our feelings are heightened, the thirst can get stronger for the blood of people we care about, right?" I asked, and David nodded in approval.

"Exactly," he replied. "But we can rephrase that, so perhaps it will make more sense." He made a short pause in his speech. "The stronger the feelings you have for someone are, the harder it is to control them, and the thirst can get mixed with those," he explained.

"So you're saying that... I almost attacked Sam because of the way I feel for her?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered. "The strongest feelings and also the hardest ones to be controlled are exactly hatred and love. If you truly hated someone when you were human, all those negative feelings will build up inside of you and get amplified, and mixed with the thirst, they could make you kill this person you hate without even a second thought, because the instincts completely take over, and you can't control it." After a brief pause, he went on."Things are similar with love, but instead of the urge to kill the person, what takes over is the thirst for their blood, and that can be just as dangerous as the hatred."

There was a long silent moment, during which I thought about what I had just heard, and it took more seconds than it probably should have for the meaning of David's words to really sink in.

"Has it ever happened before?" I asked, letting my gaze fall onto the buildings that surrounded Bushwell Plaza.

"What do you mean?"

"A vampire being in love with a human... Has it ever happened to anyone else?" I repeated.

"Yeah, it has happened before," David replied, nodding lightly. "More than once, actually."

"And how did it end up for them? I mean, is there any kind of... pattern or something?" I asked, and I was suddenly pretty afraid of the answer I'd hear next.

David hesitated for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully. "Well, we can't really call it a pattern, because it depends on each case, but in nearly all the cases, the end of it was one of the same three... At least the ones I've heard about, anyway."

"And how did those end?" I asked, finally looking back at him.

David breathed in deeply before answering, as if he knew that I probably wouldn't like the answer he was about to give me. "Like I've already said before, it really depends on each case, but in pretty much all of them, the couple has to part ways to prevent both sides from ending up hurt, the human joins the vampire in eternity, if you get what I mean, or... well, the human ends up dead." No word was said for a long moment, until David decided to add something to his speech. "Of course, there's always an exception. It only happened once, but that shows us that it's not completely impossible."

"What happened?"

"A vampire girl and a young man. They didn't fit in any of those. They remained together, even though everything seemed to be trying to pull them apart. They lived together for the man's whole life, until he grew old. He lived for eighty-seven years, but then death reached him. And just as expected, the vampire was devastated. It didn't take long until madness took over her and... well, she couldn't take it anymore, so she took away her own life by driving a stake right through her own heart."

Okay, that didn't make me feel any better.

"I know this can sound bad and stuff, but, well... it's the truth, even though it's pretty hard to hear it. But, you know, that doesn't mean that things can't end well for the two of you."

"I... I really don't..." I shook my head, not being able to find any more words to say.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything-" David started to apologize, but I interrupted him right away.

"No, you were right to tell me. That's something I needed to know," I assured him, and then silence fell upon us for a few seconds.

"Well, I guess I should get going..." David said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, uh... thanks for stopping by," I said, and looked back down.

"Oh, and Freddie?" I looked up at him once again. "Good luck."

I nodded in response before looking down again, and in the next second, he was gone.

Now that I was alone, I was finally able to think clearly about what David had told me.

I couldn't stop thinking about how much danger Sam was being put into without even knowing about it, and it was all my fault. I knew that I needed to do something about it, but the truth was that there was actually nothing I could do to make things go back to normal, because there was no way I'd ever be able to become human again.

I sighed. Maybe if I left and never came back, things would be much easier, but I knew that I'd never be able to do that.

At least I knew that Sam didn't feel the same way about me, and maybe that was actually for the best. If she didn't have any feelings for me, then I wouldn't be putting her into so much danger. But still...

Just being in the same room with her already made me want to let the instincts take over and bite her neck, draining every single drop of blood from her body...

_Stop it!_ I shook my head, trying to clear up my thoughts. I couldn't let that happen again. If I kept doing that, it would only make things even more difficult than they already were.

I tried to think of a solution to all this, but I just couldn't think of any. The only thing that made me feel the slightest bit better was the possibility that maybe with time, it would get easier to control my thirst around Sam, but I didn't know how much time that would take.

I looked up at the moon, remembering that I'd have school the next day, and I soon came to the conclusion that maybe it would be better if I fed before meeting Sam again. I used the balconies of the floors below mine to get to the ground, and when I did, I took off in a blur, heading out of Seattle and to the forest, from where I should be back before the sun started to rise.

As the distance between me and Bushwell Plaza grew bigger, I could have sworn I felt like I was being watched, but I shrugged it off. It was probably just my imagination.

Or so I thought.

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**Author's Note: I'm pretty sure that was the longest chapter of the story so far =P And I hope you liked it ;D**

**I wonder if Freddie will ever find out who Matt is... ;P**

**And what about Seddie? Will they end up like one of those four cases? Or will something entirely new happen? Hehe ;D**

**Thank you so much for reading! ****=)**

**Review! ;D**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	15. Chapter 15: Assumptions

**Author's Note: I know, I know, you all hate me for not updating for like, a month XD But this time, I kind of have an excuse. Try making seven projects due practically the same week and, to make it even better, get the flu. Yep, that's just how lucky I am.**

**I'd like to thank Tomboy22, jimthecricket and Geekquality for reviewing the last chapter. You guys made my day! =)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight.**

**Enjoy! ;)**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 08/01/12**

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Chapter 15: Assumptions

**Freddie's POV**

Several days had passed since my conversation with David in the fire escape, but I still hadn't done much progress with keeping myself under control whenever I was near Sam. It was like every time she was around, something clicked inside of me and my mind would suddenly go foggy. The only thing I could pay attention to was the sound of her heartbeat ringing in my ears as her blood was pumped through her veins; the blood I wanted to make sure I would never get to taste, even though my body seemed to think otherwise.

I had thought that things would get easier with time, and that it would take a great amount of self-control from my part to make that happen, but I believed that it was still possible.

Well, that sounded a lot easier in my head.

The next time I met Sam again, the thirst didn't catch me off guard like it had the first time I met her, so I guess that's why it was a bit easier to control myself. I knew what I'd feel and what I'd go through as soon as Sam came into sight, but it still took me every single ounce of self-control that existed in me to stop myself from attacking her right then and there.

I was even beginning to lose hope, but I knew that I couldn't let myself give up, because that would lead to me either giving in to my urges and biting Sam or having to leave in order to keep a distance from everyone, especially Sam. And neither of those two ideas seemed pleasant at all to me in any way. I'd try my hardest to make this work until it was clear that there was no other option apart from leaving, but I hoped with everything I had that I wouldn't have to. I didn't even let myself think too much about it, as if it would somehow prevent it from happening.

Another few days went by, and things seemed to be getting better slowly, and even though it wasn't such a big change, it still managed to make me grow a bit more hopeful. It was happening extremely gradually, so much that it was even pretty hard to notice a change, but I could tell that it was getting easier to keep myself under control.

And because of that, I began to grow more confident about myself, which seemed to speed up the process a little.

But I knew that I couldn't let myself get too confident. If I let my instincts slip out of my control for even less than a second thinking that I had everything under control, it would be game over, and everything would be lost. Sam would be dead, and I'd be forced to leave and never come back, hating myself forever for killing the only girl I had ever truly loved and being hated by everyone I knew.

I just hoped things would never come to that.

**Sam's POV**

I was getting really worried about Freddie.

I had decided to ignore the weird way he was acting the day he arrived from that stupid psycho camp, deciding to believe that he was actually telling the truth went he told me that he wasn't feeling very well, even though I had a weird feeling that there was more to it. And maybe I would have left it like that, not even bringing that day up again, because that was the only time he acted like that, so why should I worry about it, right?

Wrong.

Not only had he acted pretty much the same way the next time I saw him, but it even started to become something repetitive. He seemed to be extremely tense every time I saw him, like he was about to pass out or something. And sometimes he'd even close his eyes briefly and take a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself down, and I even dare to say that I caught his hands shaking badly more than once.

It was honestly beginning to freak me out.

And maybe another thing I noticed about him wouldn't have intrigued me as much as it did under normal circumstances, but I guess that whole weird behavior thing made me grow a little bit paranoid. I know it might sound pretty crazy and all, but I swear his eyes were a lighter shade of brown than they were before. Most people wouldn't have noticed it - hell, even Carly wouldn't have noticed it, and I was pretty sure she hadn't - but since I had found myself lost in those dark chocolate brown pools that were his eyes several times over the past few months, it wasn't too hard to notice the difference.

I know it might sound crazy and kind of ridiculous for me to be so intrigued by that, especially because maybe I was just so curious and freaked out about Freddie's weird behavior that I might even be imagining things, but considering what had been going on in the past few days, every single change that happened after he came back from that camp got me thinking, even if it probably had nothing to do with what was making him act so weird around me.

And yes, I really meant around me, because he only acted tense and weird whenever _I_ was around. He probably thought that I didn't notice it or something, but I could clearly see that whenever I came around, Freddie would instantly tense up and get pretty nervous.

I couldn't help but wonder if there was something wrong with me. I mean, what other reason could there be for him to be so weird just around me and no one else?

And what surprised me the most was that Carly seemed to be completely oblivious to all that. Of course, maybe it was because Freddie would only start acting strangely when I came around, but that wasn't really an excuse. He was her best friend too after all, and best friends usually noticed when there was something wrong with each other. But I guess I couldn't really blame her; she hadn't actually witnessed Freddie's weird behavior as much as I had.

And that was probably why when I asked her three days ago if she had noticed something weird going on with Freddie, she told me that she hadn't and that I was probably just being silly. Again, I guess I couldn't really blame her for being so clueless, since Freddie was only acting weird around me; so how could she notice anything different going on?

But that didn't mean that Freddie's weird behavior bothered me any less, and I was determined to find out what was going on with him, even without Carly's help.

I needed to find out what it was. All this stuff had been bothering me for days now, and the more I thought about it, the worse my curiosity and worry got. It was like I could actually feel that Freddie was keeping something from us.

Or... was he?

What if I was trying to read too much into things, when there was actually nothing there? What if this was some kind of huge misunderstanding and I was actually freaking out over something silly and unworthy? It wasn't like I was a hundred percent sure that Freddie was actually keeping something from us, so what if he wasn't?

I sighed, stuffing my History book inside my bag. Maybe…

"Sam!" Carly's voice suddenly broke me out of my trance, abruptly bringing me back to reality. "What's up with you today? You seem so… thoughtful," she told me, clearly annoyed that I had been paying zero attention to her while she probably rambled on and on about something.

"I'm sorry, Carls, I just… I just have a lot in my mind today," I told her, shrugging lightly, and the annoyed look on her face was suddenly replaced with a curious one.

"Did you have another fight with your mother?" she asked me after a brief moment of probably wondering if she really should ask me about it.

"Yeah, uh…" I hesitated for a moment. "We just haven't been getting along really well lately," I told her, not wanting to tell her the real reason for me being so thoughtful.

Carly gave me a sympathetic look, before turning to her locker and entering the combination, completely oblivious to what was really going through my head. Even though my mom had been trying to actually get along with me since the visit we had made to that therapist who locked us up in what he called a 'therapy box', we still had a few arguments, which usually got me in a pretty bad mood and made me be a lot quieter than usual, as Carly described. At least I could use that as an excuse when I was being secretive.

Neither of us spoke again for a long moment, and I suddenly felt happy that I had a friend like Carly. She wasn't talking to me because she thought that I wasn't in the mood for talking; she was giving me some space, even though I hadn't had a fight with my mother and was keeping the reason why I was being so thoughtful a secret from her.

That made me feel kind of bad for a moment, but those thoughts instantly vanished from my mind when the reason for my quietness and thoughtfulness suddenly rounded the corner and approached us calmly, acting as if there was nothing weird going on.

**Freddie's POV**

I walked through the school doors calmly.

Being around so many people at the same time was a bit more difficult than being around just a few people, but the pain in my throat was pretty much bearable. But I guess that, compared to either the pain I felt during my transformation into a vampire or the one I felt whenever I was around Sam, pretty much any pain could be labeled as bearable.

As I neared the corner ahead of me, I noticed a familiar scent in the air; the one that made me feel unusually anxious the moment I breathed it in; the one that managed to make me wonder why I had chosen the animal blood diet over feeding on humans like practically all other vampires did; the one that made my vampire instincts try to get the best of me and make me give in to my urges, no matter when and where, or even who was watching.

I tried to push those thoughts away as I rounded the corner and spotted Sam and Carly standing by their lockers. As soon as I laid my eyes on them and noticed that they weren't even talking, I felt there was something weird in the air. I shrugged it off for a moment as I greeted the two girls, doing my best to ignore the growing pain in my throat as I walked past them and made my way over to my locker to get the books I'd need for my first class of the day.

When I had all the books I'd need inside my bag, I walked back over to where Carly and Sam were, pausing when I was standing right next to Sam, and for a moment, I couldn't stop myself from letting my gaze rest on the exposed skin of her neck. It would be so easy to just bite her then and there; to finally taste the blood I could somehow tell was the most delicious one there was in this world. It would all happen so fast that no one would even have the chance to react...

_Stop it! _I told myself hashly, taking a deep breath as I tried to bring myself back to reality before it was too late, and in that moment, Sam sent me a quick sideways glance, which confused me a little, but I could find no better option but to simply shrug it off.

Carly then started chatting excitedly, which somehow helped me keep a hold onto my sanity. It intrigued me that by the way Carly was talking, it seemed like she had been wanting to speak for some time now, but for some unknown reason, she hadn't been talking to Sam. I shrugged it off when Sam joined the conversation, and everything seemed to be normal.

Almost everything, anyway.

Sam seemed to have something bothering her; I could tell because she was talking a lot less than usual, which wouldn't have intrigued me so much if I hadn't noticed that she was pretty anxious. Whenever Sam was upset about something, she'd grow quieter, as if she could shield herself from the world for a while, but it was different today. I could tell that she wasn't upset, but thoughtful and anxious, like she was waiting for something to happen at any second or like she was about to do something that made her pretty nervous. And she also seemed to not be paying much attention to what Carly and I were saying; like her head was somewhere else, far away from here.

I didn't comment anything on that, of course; there was no way to do it that wouldn't sound just plain weird or crazy. How do you tell someone that you can tell they're anxious or nervous because you can hear that their heart is beating faster than normal? Or because of the eventual deep breaths they took in what you could only see as an effort to try to calm themselves down?

But maybe I was just looking too much into things. I hadn't completely gotten used to all these heightened senses and all, and I also hadn't learned everything about what people's heartbeats, breathing and other signs could indicate about their current state, so I guessed that I might just be reading too much into things.

I just didn't know how wrong I was about that back then.

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**Author's Note: I wasn't really planning on ending the chapter there, but I kinda had to. This chapter turned out a lot longer than I thought it would (about 5k words), so I had to split it up in two different chapters, and I couldn't find anywhere better to end the first half XD**

**Reviews make me really happy ;)**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	16. Chapter 16: Secrecy

**Author's Note: Yeah, I know, took me long enough XD**

**In my defense, I've been pretty busy lately, and I've also been rewriting the ten first chapters of this story, since the original ten were written back in 2009, and considering that my English was pretty much horrible back then, those chapters had several grammar mistakes and were just extremely poorly written XD The two first ones are already up (I replaced the old ones with the new ones), so feel free to check them out ;) I didn't change anything about the storyline though, so if you don't feel like reading them, there's no need to =)**

**Oh, and I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter =) You guys have no idea how happy you made me =P**

**Disclaimer: My name is not Dan Schneider, Julie Plec, Kevin Williamson or Stephenie Meyer, so that can only mean that I don't own iCarly, The Vampire Diaries or Twilight, don't you all agree?**

**Enjoy! ;D**

**EDITED CHAPTER - 08/03/12**

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Chapter 16: Secrecy

**Sam's POV**

I tried to act as normal and calm as I could manage to, but I knew that I was failing miserably at it.

I was extremely nervous, and whenever I'm nervous, I usually screw up things. And the worst part of it was that I knew that this wasn't something I could screw up, but that thought only made me even more nervous than I already was.

Things remained the same for a few minutes, with Carly doing practically all the talking, Freddie saying something here and there, and me saying a word eventually, only to make it seem like I was actually paying attention to the conversation that was going on right in front of me instead of replaying what I was going to say when I talked to Freddie over and over inside my head, since that made me feel a little less nervous.

A part of me wanted Carly to leave, just so I could talk to Freddie alone, since I knew that the sooner I got this over with and found out the truth, the better. But there was another part of me that felt kind of glad that she was still there, since that was giving me more time to think about what I was about to do. Ugh, why was I feeling so nervous? I mean, it wasn't like I was positively sure that Freddie was hiding something from us, and even if he was, it couldn't be something really bad, right?

Right?

"Oh, I almost forgot! I need to talk to Wendy before class! I'll see you guys later, I gotta go!" Carly said suddenly, the volume of her voice a bit louder than usual, which suddenly broke me out of my trance and made me come back to reality. But before either me or Freddie could respond, Carly quickly turned on her heel and began walking away from us in a hurried pace.

I stared at the point where she had just vanished in the end of the hallway for a moment, my heart suddenly racing inside my chest, since I instantly realized that the moment I had been both waiting for and dreading had arrived without any kind of warning. _Okay, Puckett, it's now or never. Don't you dare chicken out of this; you're a Puckett for ham's sake! Yeah, that's right, I can do this. I can do this. _I kept repeating that over and over in my head in an effort to try to calm myself down so I could start talking, but Freddie beat me to it.

"So, uh... Are you okay?" Freddie asked, and I quickly let my gaze meet his. He was eyeing me curiously, as if he was worried about me or something.

"What do you mean?" I asked, doing my best to sound calm.

"I don't know..." He made a short pause. "You just seem pretty off today," he explained, shrugging lightly, and I found myself wondering if it was really that obvious. Well, it seemed like it was.

I hesitated for a moment before answering as I tried to organize my thoughts. "Oh, it's nothing... I just... I just didn't get much sleep last night," I lied, shrugging lightly. Freddie nodded lightly in response, seeming to have believed me, or at least pretending to have so. "And... What about you?" I managed to ask, nervously biting my bottom lip as I waited for his answer.

"What about me?" he asked, frowning at me.

"Well, you're also a bit off today," I said, choosing my words carefully. "Actually, not only today, but for the past few days..." I made a short pause, hesitating for a brief moment. "Since you came back from that camp," I finally said, and Freddie clearly tensed up at my words, which only made me believe that he was actually hiding something from me and Carly.

"I, uh… I'm fine, really," he told me.

"Are you sure? I mean, I feel like there's something you're not telling us," I said, frowning slightly at him.

The bell suddenly rang, signaling the beginning of the first class of the day, but I didn't even think about moving from where I was standing, and apparently, neither did Freddie.

"And what makes you think that?" Freddie asked, and even though his voice sounded pretty calm, I was able to hear a hint of nervousness in it.

"Well, I don't know," I replied, shrugging lightly. "Maybe the way you've been acting these past couple of days. Always avoiding me, being quieter than usual, and some other things."

Freddie seemed speechless for a moment. He looked as if he was trying to find a way to respond to that, but apparently, he couldn't find any. "I'd better get to class," he said finally, before quickly walking past me. I wasn't going to let him get away so easily, though.

"You know, a few seconds ago I didn't think you were actually keeping something from us, but now I'm not so sure anymore," I said, watching as Freddie suddenly stopped walking, his back still turned at me. He remained frozen like that for a brief moment, but he soon sighed and turned on his heel, hesitantly allowing his eyes to meet mine. His face had suddenly gained a serious expression, which made me a little bit nervous, but I did my best not to let it show.

"Do you really want to talk about this right now?" Freddie asked me, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"So you _are_ keeping something from us," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

Freddie hesitated for a moment before finally responding. "Listen, Sam... There are some things that you probably wouldn't understand."

"How can you know that?" I insisted, frowning at him.

"Just drop it, alright?" he insisted, his eyes almost pleading. I stared at him for a long silent moment, and I could tell that it was clear to him that I wouldn't simply forget about this. After several seconds had passed, he opened his mouth to say something, but he ended up not having the chance to.

"Hey, you two!" Mr. Buttburn's voice echoed through the empty hallway. "What are you doing out of class?" he asked us as he walked up to where we were, coming from the stairs that led to the second floor of the school. I quickly started to come up with a lie, but Freddie didn't give me the chance to do it.

"We were just heading there," Freddie said calmly, but the Math teacher didn't seem really pleased with his answer.

"Yeah, you better. Or else I'm gonna send both of you to the principal's office," he said, sending us both what I could only guess was supposed to be a threatening look, before walking away.

Freddie also started to walk away, but I quickly closed the distance between us and grabbed his forearm to make him stop walking. He spun around quickly, clearly surprised by what I had just done, and stared at me for a moment. That was when I realized just how close to each other we were standing. His face was pretty close to mine, and for a brief moment, I was sure he was going to kiss me.

But then, something happened.

A black line suddenly appeared on the skin right under Freddie's eyes, like there was something pressing against his skin from underneath it, and with that one, others came. They all looked like some kind of black veins, and before I could stop it, I found myself gasping at the sight, quickly letting go of his arm.

All that happened in a second, and before I even had the chance to process what had just happened, Freddie turned around abruptly. But before Freddie's face was out of sight, I could have sworn I saw the white part of his eyes darkening, earning a red tone.

"I gotta go," Freddie muttered in a hushed tone as he began to walk away from me, and this time I let him.

I was completely frozen. I could barely make myself follow Freddie with my eyes as he, instead of heading to his first class of the day, walked toward the big wooden doors in the far end of the main hall and left the school building without a single glance behind.

And that was when the shock finally wore off.

"Freddie!" I called out after him, my heart racing as I ran toward the door.

I stepped outside and looked around frantically, knowing that he couldn't have gone too far in the few seconds that passed in the time between the moment he walked out of the school and the moment I did, but, much to my surprise, there was no sign of Freddie anywhere. I looked around confusedly, not understanding how he could have just vanished like that.

I sighed in defeat after a few seconds of pointlessly scanning my surroudings and walked back inside the school, one sentence echoing inside my head repeatedly as I tried to make some kind of sense out of what I had just seen.

_What the hell just happened?_

**Freddie's POV**

My conversation with Sam just wouldn't leave my mind during the hours that followed it.

When I turned, I had thought that maybe someone could find out about my secret someday, but not so soon. My best guess had been after a few years, when someone might finally realize that I wasn't aging. But this soon? After only a month or so? It hadn't even crossed my mind. And it also hadn't crossed my mind that this person would end up being Sam.

I had never actually put much thought into what I would do if someone ever found out that I was a vampire, but now I realized that maybe I should start doing that.

I knew I couldn't just pretend that nothing had happened. Sam had seen how my face changed, and I only had myself to blame for that. I knew that I still couldn't be so close to her, and yet, I let my guard down. And now, I'd have to pay for that. Sam was pretty stubborn, and I knew that she wouldn't forget something like that so easily.

I just hoped that if she ever found out the truth, she wouldn't hate me for what I had become.

**Sam's POV**

I didn't see Freddie again that day, and he also didn't show up for school the next day.

My conversation with him just wouldn't leave my mind throughout those two whole days, and it even kept me up at night. But what kept bothering me wasn't exactly what he had said, but what had happened to his face.

I knew what I had seen, but I just couldn't make myself understand what it meant. I had once thought that whatever Freddie was hiding from Carly and me wasn't really something so serious; I thought that it was something that could be handled if he would just tell us about it, but now I realized that maybe I was dealing with something far more complicated than what I had expected.

But... What was it? That was the part that had kept me up all night and had my whole attention during all the classes I had to sit through at school. Carly even got annoyed with me, saying that I was pretty off and barely paying attention to anything she was saying. She kept asking me if there was something wrong, or if I had gotten into another fight with my mother. I told her that I just hadn't gotten much sleep that night and that I was pretty sleepy, which wasn't exactly a lie.

I just didn't want to bring her into this, or at least not yet. I wanted to actually know what I was dealing with before telling her anything about it. That was, if I would ever tell her at all.

We had an iCarly rehearsal after school, so I hoped that even though Freddie had skipped school for two days in a roll, he wouldn't miss the show's rehearsal.

And fortunately, he didn't.

I had been sitting on one of the bean bag chairs in the iCarly studio while Carly organized those little colorful cards she always made with ideas for the next show when Freddie arrived. He walked in the studio like there was nothing wrong, and when Carly asked him why he hadn't shown up for school for the past two days, he simply told her that he hadn't been feeling very well, but that he was feeling better now. He was acting like everything was just fine, and his performance was almost believable.

Almost.

I knew that there was something wrong - something _really_ wrong - and he wouldn't fool me with all that normality he was trying to pull off. I knew better than to fall for any of that.

I wondered if he thought that maybe I'd just drop it, or maybe even forget about what I had seen. Maybe he did, or maybe he simply hoped that I wouldn't bring it up again after I saw him acting like there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. Or maybe he knew that I wouldn't simply forget about what had happened, but he didn't want Carly to be involved in any of this for some reason, so while she was around, he'd just act like our conversation in the school hallway had never happened.

I'd play along with it, at least for now.

Like I've already made pretty clear, I wouldn't bring Carly into this, at least not before I found out what was really going on. And I was somewhat glad that Freddie apparently thought the same way I did.

The iCarly rehearsal went on just like usual, and sometimes, all the thoughts that had been bothering me for the past two days vanished from my mind. Several times, for merely a few seconds, I actually caught myself feeling like there was nothing wrong. But there was this little voice in the back of my head that kept reminding me of what I had seen in the hallway, and the desire to know what Freddie was hiding would instantly be back with just as much strength as before.

I had sworn to myself that I'd find out the truth, and I'd do it tonight.

I'm proud to say that I had actually built up the courage to confront Freddie once again, and this time, I wouldn't let him get away from me. I had had a lot of time to think things through - what I would say, how I would act. I had everything planned out.

But still…

There was this other voice in the back of my head that kept telling me that I actually didn't want to be pulled into any of this; that it would be better if I didn't know what Freddie was hiding. And it made me wonder… What if it was right?

Considering what I had seen in the hallway, I could tell that whatever Freddie was keeping from us wasn't something small, so did I really want to know what it was?

_Yes,_ the answer popped inside my head instantly. Yes, I wanted to know. Better yet, I _needed_ to know. Because no matter what had happened to him, and no matter what I'd soon find out, I still loved him.

I had already told myself over a thousand times that I shouldn't love him; that I should forget about him, and that I'd never have a chance to be with him, but none of those thoughts made even the slightest difference in what I felt for him, and I was pretty sure nothing ever would.

When the rehearsal was over, Carly asked us both if we wanted something from the fridge, and then she was gone, going downstairs to get herself a cup of iced tea. And in the exact moment she stepped out of the studio and the door closed shut behind her, awkwardness filled the air.

Neither one of us spoke. The silence and awkwardness in the room were so heavy I could swear the air was a lot thicker than usual. I knew Freddie was expecting me to say something; to ask him about what had happened during the past two days and about what I had seen during our conversation at school. But much to his surprise, I didn't. In fact, I didn't even look up from the screen of my PearPod, doing my best to avoid his gaze, because I knew that if we made eye contact, I'd end up giving away the fact that I was extremely nervous. I was thinking about what I'd do later to finally find out the truth, but I didn't want him to have a single clue about what I had in mind.

In a little over a minute, Carly was back with her cup of iced tea, and as soon as she entered the studio, the tension in the room practically vanished. We hung out for a few more minutes, until I finally decided that it was time for me to go. I excused myself, saying that I had to go home to give Frothy a bath, and then left the iCarly studio, sending a brief yet meaningful glance in Freddie's direction as I walked out the door.

It was time to put my plan into action.

I walked down the stairs calmly and exited the Shays' apartment, pausing when I was standing right in the middle of the hallway, staring at the front door of the Bensons' apartment. I reached forward and rested my shaky hand on the door handle before turning it, trying to open the door.

Locked.

I wasn't surprised by that though, since I knew just how paranoid Freddie's mother was. I quickly picked the lock with a hair pin I had with me and opened the door as silently as I could. I stepped inside and closed the door shut behind me without making a single sound, my heart racing inside my chest as I began to feel nervous again. The first thing I noticed when I was inside was that all the lights inside the aparment were off, which could only mean that Freddie's mother wasn't home. I smiled lightly to myself, since that was exactly what I had been hoping for, and I guess I had already known that would happen. It was Tuesday, which meant that she would be working the night shift at the hospital where she worked as a nurse.

It took me a few minutes, but I somehow managed to make my way over to the couch in the dark and carefully sit down on it, sighing quietly to myself.

_Well, now the only thing I can do is wait, _I thought to myself, suddenly feeling even more nervous than before.

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**Author's Note: I know you all hate me right now for ending the chapter there XD Oh, well...**

**Thank you all so much for reading! =D**

**Reviews are very much appreciated! ;)**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	17. Chapter 17: Hesitation

**Author's Note: Yeah, I know, I suck at updating regularly XD**

**By the way, thank you all so much for the amazing feedback I've been getting for this story! You guys are the best! =D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, The Vampire Diaries or Twilight!**

**Enjoy! ;)**

**EDIT (08/04/12): I'm officially done with editing the first chapters of this story =) I know, it took me a while XD By the way, from the next chapter on, the chapters won't be marked as edited anymore, since there's no need to.**

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Chapter 17: Hesitation

**Freddie's POV**

Something was up with Sam, I could feel it.

I had expected her to start asking me over a thousand questions about what had happened in the school hallway two days ago as soon as we were alone again, but much to my surprise and confusion, she didn't. At first I thought that maybe she had decided to simply drop it, just like I had asked her to, and also what I hoped she would do, but something made me think otherwise.

Even though she was trying to act calm and normal around me, pretending that there was nothing wrong, I could easily tell that there was something bothering her. If I were still human, her acting would have been enough to fool me. Sam had always been a good liar and a master at hiding what she was thinking, but fooling a vampire wasn't so easy.

I could hear that her heart started beating slightly faster than usual whenever I looked in her direction, and that she eventually took deep breaths, as if to calm herself down. She kept tapping her nails nervously on her slightly bouncing leg as she ran her fingers over the screen of her PearPod. I could hear that she was simply pressing random stuff in it, like she was pretending to play with it or something. It was clear to me that there was something in her mind - something that was making her feel pretty nervous and anxious, and I could tell that it involved me.

I assumed that she still hadn't forgotten about our conversation, but I knew that couldn't be the only thing making her nervous. Something was up with her, but I found myself unable to figure out what it was.

A random thought crossed my mind, and it made me panic briefly. Had she found out… about me? No, there was no way she could have ever found out the truth on her own like that. But then, what could it be? What was in her mind? What could possibly get her so nervous like that?

I had no idea.

I grew even more suspicious when Sam excused herself a few minutes later saying that she had to go home to give Frothy a bath. It wasn't normal for her to leave early like that; she had to be hiding something, but I had no clue what that could possibly be.

I didn't stay for too long either. After a few minutes, I told Carly that I'd better go home and left. My mother wasn't home, since she was working a night shift at the hospital where she worked as a nurse, which was pretty good, because it meant that I had the whole apartment to myself.

But the moment I tried to unlock the front door of my apartment, I realized there was something wrong. The door was already unlocked, which was extremely odd. My mom would never have forgotten to lock the front door; I knew her well enough to know that.

I walked inside and closed the front door behind me slowly, eyeing everything around me suspiciously. It was like my instincts were taking over again, and I was suddenly able to hear every single sound inside that apartment; the curtains shaking slightly with the light breeze coming from the open window, the sound of someone's heartbeat and breathing coming from the couch…

I paused. Whoever was there was human. I breathed in slowly, and the moment I felt a familiar scent in the air, I knew exactly who it was. I moved my gaze toward the couch, and even though all the lights inside the apartment were off and the living room was engulfed in pure darkness, my eyes were able to see the person sitting on the couch perfectly, even though she probably couldn't see anything at all because of the lack of light in the room.

Sam.

**Sam's POV**

I heard a low click coming from the front door, and I prepared myself for what I was about to do.

_There's no going back now, _I thought to myself, trying not to panic. I was sitting on the couch, in the dark, since I thought that it'd be better if Freddie didn't know there was someone inside the apartment - and most importantly, that this someone was me - until I wanted him to, so I decided to leave the lights off for now.

The front door was suddenly pushed open, and I was able to make out a dark silhouette standing in the doorway. The silhouette closed the door calmly and the room was covered by darkness once again. There was brief silent moment, during which I was able to see absolutely nothing.

And then, everything became as clear as day. I closed my eyes at the sudden brightness of the room, and when I opened them again, I realized that Freddie was standing right in front of me, his arms folded over his chest.

"What are you doing here?" he asked me, and I was surprised by the coldness of his voice.

"You were gone," I said simply, and he raised an eyebrow at me, as if he didn't know what I meant, even though I knew very well that he did. "You were gone for two days, and now you show up again, acting like nothing happened."

"I was sick," he said, shrugging lightly.

"You really expect me to believe that?" I asked, standing up from the couch. "I know you were trying to avoid me, but you couldn't just ditch an iCarly rehearsal."

"What? I wasn't-" Freddie tried to protest, but I quickly cut him off.

"Yes, you were," I told him. "What, you were afraid that I'd bring it up again?" I asked, not seeing any need to point out what I was talking about.

Freddie sighed, unfolding his arms so he could run his hand through his dark brown hair. I waited patiently for his answer, not tearing my eyes away from him for even a second.

"That doesn't explain what you're doing here," he finally said after a brief moment of silence, and I simply rolled my eyes at him. How long did he intend to try to keep that up?

"Seriously? Freddie, you know pretty well why I'm here," I shot at him, crossing my own arms over my chest.

"Why can't you just drop it?" he asked me, and I rolled my eyes once again.

"Because I can't!" I exclaimed, already losing my patience.

"And why not?" he shot back at me. "It's not like you care or anything."

"Well, that's where you're wrong," I said, feeling hurt by his words, but I hid it well. Did he honestly think that I didn't care about him? Was he really that blind? "Because as unreal as it might sound, I do consider you to be one of my best friends, and that means that I care about you! And I'm worried about you!" I exclaimed, but of course, I avoided telling him about the part of me being in love with him.

"Well, you shouldn't worry about me. At least not with this," Freddie said, his voice lower now as he looked down, his arms crossed over his chest once again.

"I…" I started, but paused. I took one step forward as I let my arms fall to my sides. Now I was standing closer to him; close enough for me to reach out my hand and rest it lightly on his arm. "I just want to know what's going on," I said, trying to ignore the electric feeling that ran through my hand and up my arm when my skin came in contact with his, and he finally looked up at me.

When our eyes connected, I swear I felt just like a bolt of energy ran down my spine and through every single nerve of my body, and I suddenly felt frozen. I couldn't move, even if I wanted to. I looked deep into his chocolate brown eyes, and that was when I noticed something… Was he wearing contact lenses?

"Since when do you wear contacts?" I asked suddenly, not even thinking about it, and then I mentally slapped myself. _Not the time, Puckett._

But surprisingly, Freddie's answer made me think that my question wasn't totally random or off-topic.

"Since I came back from the camp," he answered, and I frowned.

_Okay, that's it, _I thought to myself, my patience long since gone. He was going to tell me the truth, whether he wanted to do it or not.

"Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on or not?" I asked finally. Freddie simply stared at me for a long and silent moment, and I stared right back at him, waiting. Until…

Freddie sighed in defeat. "Fine," he said, finally giving in. "But I need to warn you. This is not something small or simple. It's a really long story, and what I'm about to tell you might change everything, including our friendship, and also the way you see the world right now. Are you sure you want to know this?"

Freddie looked straight into my eyes during his whole speech, probably trying to look for any kind of sign that could help him figure out what I was feeling or thinking, but I kept my face as emotionless I could, even though that last part made me grow even more nervous inside. For a moment, I actually considered the possibility that he might have only said all that to mess with me, or to try to scare me off, but by the look in his eyes, I could tell that he was dead serious.

I nodded. "I'm sure," I whispered, and Freddie nodded lightly in response.

Freddie sat down on the left end of the couch without a word, and I sat down on the right. I leaned back against the couch, unlike Freddie, who had his body leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.

"It's a pretty long story," he repeated.

"Just go on," I said, rolling my eyes impatiently. I couldn't wait any longer.

"Fine, as you wish," he said, sighing. He hesitated for another brief moment, as if choosing where to start from, until he finally spoke up once again, looking down at the carpet right under his feet.

"You remember the e-mail I sent while I was at that camp to tell you guys that we had all gone hiking, right?" he asked me, and I simply nodded in response. "Well, the night before we went hiking, we had a campfire, where we all told ghost stories. Usual camp stuff, you know? And there was this guy who started telling a story about a boy who had been attacked in the woods…" He paused, taking a deep breath, looking as if he had no idea how to continue. "Do you believe in supernatural?" he suddenly asked me, and I frowned, not really knowing what to say. Where had that question come from?

"Uh… What?" I managed to ask, still confused about why he had asked me a question like that completely out of the blue.

"Vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts and stuff. Do you believe in those kind of things?" Freddie insisted, finally looking up at me, and in that moment, by the look in his eyes, I knew that it wasn't any kind of joke.

"No, not really," I replied, shaking my head lightly. "I mean, I've never seen any of that, so why would I believe it?" I added, shrugging, and much to my surprise, Freddie chuckled.

Why the hell was he chuckling?

"Well, that's just what you think," he finally said, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Have you ever thought that maybe someone you know could be one of those?" Freddie asked.

"Okay, what the hell did you eat this morning, because trust me, you're not saying anything coherent right now," I said, but Freddie simply sighed.

"Sam, I'm serious," he told me, looking at me dead in the eye. The look in his eyes was so intense and serious that I suddenly found myself unable to look away once again or to make any kind of sarcastic remark.

That didn't last long though, since he soon looked down once again, as if he couldn't bear to look at me in the eye anymore.

I had no idea where he wanted to get with that whole supernatural talk. What could that have to do with what he was supposed to be telling me?

_Nothing,_ I thought quickly, but there was part of me that, for some reason, seemed to think otherwise.

**Freddie's POV**

I knew what I had to do, and I knew that it was necessary, but I just didn't know how to do it.

Sam already knew there was something up with me, and she was here now, right in front of me, asking me to tell her the truth. And here I was, hesitating, not able to just go straight to the point and get this whole thing over with.

I took a deep breath, trying to organize my thoughts. I needed to tell her the truth, and I needed to tell her now. It would be worse if she somehow found out about what had happened to me at the camp by any other way that wasn't me telling her.

I just feared that maybe she would be so afraid of me when she found out the truth that she'd never want to see me again. That thought was so painful I quickly pushed it to the back of my mind. I couldn't know what her reaction would be if I didn't tell her, but how was I supposed to tell her the truth? How do I tell the person who obviously hates me, but whom I'm deeply in love with, that I'm a vampire?

Sam was already impatient by my side, I could tell. Noticing that, I breathed in once again in an effort to try to calm myself down and finally spoke the words that might push her away from me forever, but I knew that this was unavoidable.

"The story the guy from the camp that I mentioned earlier told us was about a boy who had been attacked by a vampire in the woods several years ago and ended up turning into one. He warned us that the woods were dangerous, but no one listened to him." I made a short pause as I noticed Sam's confused expression, looking as if she had no idea where I was trying to get with that story. Ignoring that, I went on, looking back down at the carpet.

"But when we were hiking in the forest the next day, everyone ended up splitting up because of a bear that had come out of nowhere, and I ended up being lost in the woods with a friend of mine from the camp. And no matter how crazy and impossible it might sound… We were attacked by a vampire, and, well, I was... I was bitten, and I ended up turning too," I finally said, looking up at Sam once again, nervously waiting for her reaction.

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**Author's Note: I'm pretty sure you all hate me right now for ending the chapter there XD Oh, well ;P**

**I love reviews ;)**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	18. Chapter 18: The Truth Comes Out

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight!**

**Enjoy! ;)**

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Chapter 18: The Truth Comes Out

**Sam's POV**

"We were attacked by a vampire, and, well, I was... I was bitten, and I ended up turning too," Freddie said, and when he finished, he looked up at me, waiting for my reaction.

I started laughing.

And I wasn't simply laughing lightly; I was honestly laughing hysterically. I was laughing so hard that in no time at all my stomach started to hurt, but that didn't make me laugh any less. Freddie simply kept staring at me with his brows furrowed, clearly confused by my reaction, but I just couldn't help it.

Did he really think that he'd fool me with that story? Okay, I got it that he didn't want to tell me what was going on with him, but he really didn't need to make up a story like that, since I was sure he knew that I wouldn't fall for it. Freddie? A vampire? Seriously? That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard in my whole life! And completely hilarious, I must add.

I was pretty sure about ten minutes had passed until my laughter finally began to die down, and when I looked back up at Freddie, he had that serious look back on his face.

"Okay, that was hilarious," I told him, still laughing a little bit. "Good job coming up with that in so little time, but it's still a pretty ridiculous story nonetheless." I made a short pause. "Now, back to the point," I began. "Are you going to tell me what's going on or not?" I asked, now sounding serious again, since my laughter had finally died down completely.

"I didn't come up with anything, Sam. I'm serious," he said, still using that same serious tone of voice from before, and I couldn't help but to roll my eyes at him. How long did he intend to try to keep this whole act up?

"Yeah, right," I said. "Freddie, stop it, it's not funny anymore."

Freddie sighed. "It's not supposed to be funny, Sam. And again, I didn't make up any of this," he insisted, and I was beginning to find his insistence pretty annoying. Couldn't he just realize that joke time was over?

"Do you really expect me to believe that you're a vampire?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

"Well, yeah, kind of," Freddie replied, and I considered it for a moment.

"Fine," I said finally, and Freddie seemed pretty taken aback by my answer, but I quickly went on, not wanting him to take it the wrong way. "Then prove it," I added, crossing my arms over my chest in a somewhat defiant manner.

"What?" he asked.

"You heard me," I said. "If you're really a vampire, which I know you are not, then prove it. Do something… vampire-like or whatever," I added, shrugging.

Freddie hesitated for a long moment, staring at me intensely, and I stared right back. It seemed like he was having some kind of debate in his mind about what he'd say next, and I wondered what his next move would be. I mean, it wasn't like he'd actually do anything vampire-like, since there was no way he could possibly be a vampire.

For a moment, I found myself wondering if this whole vampire story he had come up with was some kind of fantasy of his, like he actually wanted to be a vampire someday, as ridiculous as that might sound. I'd sure mock him about this later.

"So? I'm waiting," I said, breaking the silence. What? I was never a very patient person.

Freddie sighed and, much to my surprise, suddenly stood up from the couch.

"Where are you going?" I asked, watching as he walked into the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

"You asked about the contact lenses, right?" Freddie asked me as he vanished into his room, and I held back the urge to go after him.

"Yeah…" I replied loudly, hoping that he'd still be able to hear me from his room. What the hell was he doing in there?

"Well, _this_ is why I've been wearing them," he said, emerging from the hallway.

I was frozen for a second, not sure if my eyes were playing a trick on me or something around those lines. I slowly stood up from the couch, not tearing my eyes away from Freddie's for even a second. He was standing right next to the passage that led to the hallway, staring at me expectantly with his arms crossed over his chest as I hesitantly approached him.

His irises were a dark shade of crimson, instead of the beautiful tone of chocolate brown I had been used to since the day I'd met him for the first time.

I paused when I was standing right in front of him, trying to identify the light and almost imperceptible circle around his irises that would give away the fact that he was actually wearing red contact lenses, but much to my disbelief, I found none.

"This… This gotta be some light trick or something," I finally said, too stubborn to acknowledge even to myself that he had actually been telling me the truth all along. This couldn't be true, it just couldn't.

"Is _this_ a light trick too, then?" he asked.

What I saw next make my eyes widen in shock, and I couldn't stop myself from gasping loudly.

The white part of Freddie's eyes suddenly earned a red tone, and his irises became pitch black, making it impossible for me to tell the difference between his pupils and irises. Black veins suddenly appeared in the area under his eyes, as if they were pressing themselves against his skin from the inside. And as he parted his lips slightly, I was able to catch a glimpse of what had once been his canine teeth, but had somehow lengthened and turned into fangs.

I stared at him in disbelief for a moment, before doing the only thing I could make myself do in a situation like that.

I made a run for the door.

But just as I started yanking the door open, it was suddenly pushed closed before there was enough space between the door and the doorframe for me to leave the apartment. The hand that had pushed the door closed was so strong that I wasn't able to stop it.

I didn't move. I remained frozen, staring at the wooden door right in front of me, just then realizing that I was breathing heavily and that my heart was racing inside my chest. I knew that Freddie was standing right behind me, but I didn't dare to turn around and face him. The only thing I wanted to do was get out of that apartment and be as far away from his as possible.

"Sam." My breath shook when I heard Freddie whispering my name, but I still refused to look at him. He sounded like he was trying to make me calm down, but there was no way in hell he'd be able to do that.

"Let me go," I managed to whisper, and I was surprised by how weak my voice came out.

"Sam, please, let me just-"

I cut him off. "Freddie, please. Just let me go," I said, my voice shaking involuntarily.

And after a few painfully dragged on seconds, Freddie finally pulled his hand back, which would allow me to finally open the door. And that was exactly what I did.

I yanked the door open and ran out of the apartment, not even bothering to close it behind me. Since I knew that I wouldn't have the patience to wait for the elevator, I went straight to the stairs, taking two steps at a time as I ran down them at top speed.

And soon enough, I found myself exiting Bushwell Plaza, before heading home hurriedly, looking around every now and then, afraid that Freddie might have decided to come after me, which I highly hoped he hadn't.

I honestly needed some time alone.

When I finally got home, I locked the front door behind me and rested my back against it, slowly letting myself slide toward the soft carpet.

Freddie was a vampire.

That thought echoed inside my head about a thousand times, but its meaning just wouldn't completely sink in. I had known that Freddie had been keeping something from us, but I could have never even thought that it could be something like, well… _this_.

I honestly didn't know what to do, or even what to think. My mind was racing as I replayed my conversation with Freddie over and over inside my head, but I found myself unable to form any kind of coherent thought. I guess it was the shock, or maybe even the fear, but my mind seemed to have gone numb.

I could feel my heart pounding inside my chest, and for a moment, I was afraid that I was actually having a heart attack. One question kept repeating itself over and over in my mind as I tried to force myself to think coherently, but I had absolutely no idea what the answer to that question was.

_What the hell do I do now?_

**Freddie's POV**

I don't know how much time I stayed frozen, simply standing there, staring at the spot where Sam had vanished into the hallway, but after what I guessed had been several minutes, I finally managed to make myself move, letting out a loud sigh as I closed the front door calmly and locked it, since I knew that if my mother came home from work early and found that door unlocked, I'd never hear the end of it.

I then walked over to the couch and let myself fall onto it, still not believing that what had just happened had actually been real.

I had finally told Sam the truth about what I had become, but she took it way worse than I had thought she would. She ran away from me, probably afraid that I would hurt her - or maybe even worse -, and that made me wonder if she'd ever come around again.

Even though I might be wrong, I still kept my hopes up as I tried to convince myself that she just needed some time alone, since what she found out wasn't something easy to process, but I was still worried that maybe she'd be so afraid of me that she would never let me explain myself to her and assure her that I was still the Freddie she knew and that I'd never hurt her.

That worry only grew bigger and bigger as the next two days passed, but Sam refused to show up at school or even reply to Carly's texts. I had even started to fear that I'd never see her again.

Okay, I know that last thought was pretty dramatic, but it was still possible, and that possibility freaked me out to no end.

And what if... What if she had told someone about me?

That thought was so terrifying that I shoved it away as soon as it crossed my mind, refusing to think that Sam would do something like that. I mean, she wouldn't, right?

Right?

"Freddie!" I was suddenly broken out of my thoughts, finally realizing that Carly was snapping her fingers right in front of my eyes as she tried to get my attention, but I had been too lost in thought to notice it.

"Oh, I'm sorry, what?" I said quickly, but my mind still wasn't completely focused on her.

"I said that I got a text from Sam during second period," Carly repeated, and at the mention of Sam's name, I was finally able to completely snap out of my worried thoughts and focus my attention on my other best friend.

"You did?" I asked her, surprised, and I suddenly felt nervous, fearing whatever Sam had said in the text.

"Yeah, she said that she has a pretty bad cold, and that she doesn't want any visitors because she doesn't want to make anyone sick as well," Carly told me, and I mentally sighed in relief, since Sam apparently hadn't said anything about me in the text. "Didn't she send it to you?"

"Uh… No, she didn't," I replied, shrugging as I tried to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal.

Of course Sam didn't send me the message, or didn't reply to the text I had sent her the previous day. Yes, I had actually built up the courage to text her saying that I wanted to explain myself to her, but she didn't reply to my message. It wasn't like I had actually expected her to, though.

"Well, that's weird…" Carly trailed off, eyeing me curiously. I was beginning to grow afraid that she'd ask me if Sam and I had had a fight or something, but the bell signaling the beginning of the last class of the day suddenly rang, and being the perfect student she was, Carly said that she had to go or else she would be late, before getting out of sight in the end of the hallway.

I hesitantly walked to my last class, which was History with Mr. Howard. Didn't that sound wonderful?

Please notice my sarcasm.

Well, it wasn't like I had been able to pay attention to any of my classes in the past two days, so I guess I could survive that one just fine.

And just like I had expected, I completely zoned out as soon as Mr. Howard started talking about something, which I guess was the American Civil War, but I wasn't paying enough attention to know for sure. I just couldn't get Sam out of my mind, no matter how much I tried to.

And the more I thought about Sam, the more worried I grew, fearing that she wouldn't even give me the chance to explain to her what had happened to me and that she didn't need to be afraid of me. Her text to Carly didn't say anything about me, but the part where she said that she didn't want any visitors was clearly a message for me, telling me to stay away from her house, since I was sure she knew that Carly would tell me about the message at some point of the day. And if that was what she wanted, I'd stay away from her house, no matter how much the doubts about what was going through her mind seemed to be trying to drive me crazy.

After the final bell rang, I met up with Carly once again, but much to my relief, she didn't bring Sam up in the conversation like I had expected her to and how I feared she would.

I knew that Sam had found out about my secret, but that didn't mean that I wanted anyone else to find out about it as well. If possible, I'd make sure no one else ever would.

The rest of the day passed just like the previous one had. I spent a big part of my afternoon trying to keep myself busy as I fixed a few problems we had been having with the comment section on the iCarly website, and later on, I went over to Carly's to hang out for a while.

My mom left for her night shift at the hospital right after dinner, which, just like every day, wasn't a good time for me at all. David had told me that food wouldn't taste good at all, and man, was he right. But I had to keep my human facade up, which meant that I couldn't simply stop eating, so I had to make myself swallow at least a portion of the contents of my plate. But I was definitely eating a lot less than I used to when I was still human.

So there I was, in my room, playing around with my laptop, editing an iCarly video we had shot the previous week and were only going to air in about two weeks or so, which meant that there was no need for me to be editing it already, but I honestly couldn't find anything better to do.

My phone buzzed.

I looked up from the screen of my laptop, focusing my gaze on the mobile lying on my desk for a moment, before looking back down at my laptop, which was currently resting on my lap. I saved all the progress I had made so far and carefully laid my laptop right next to me on my bed, before getting up and walking over to where my PearPhone was.

I was expecting a text from either Carly or my mom when I picked my phone up from the desk and pressed the circular button right below the screen. The locked phone screen instantly lit up, which allowed me to read the name of the contact that had sent me the text. My eyes widened in surprise as soon as I read the name, and if I still had a beating heart, I was sure it would have skipped a beat.

Sam.

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**Author's Note: Don't you guys just love cliffhangers? lol XD**

**I wonder what Sam's been up to... Hehe ;P**

**Thank you so much for reading! =)**

**I love reviews ;D**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	19. Chapter 19: Vampire Coming Over

**Author's Note: See? It didn't take me _that_ long to update this time XDD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight!**

**Enjoy! ;D**

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Chapter 19: Vampire Coming Over

**Sam's POV**

**'Can you come over?'**

I don't know how much time I spent simply staring at that text after I had sent it, my heart beating a lot faster than normal. Nervousness washed over me as soon as I pressed send, but I knew that there was no turning back now.

I had ditched school for two days straight just to avoid Freddie, but even though I had been away from him physically, he had been the only thing in my mind during every single second of those school-free days. And honestly, how could things have been any different from that?

I still wasn't entirely sure how I felt about what I had found out. Of course, I knew how I _should _feel, but I was never an average person anyway, so the fact that I felt conflicted shouldn't really be a surprise at all.

I had never believed in anything supernatural during my whole life. I had always been the kind of person who would laugh during horror movies because I thought the idea of anything like that actually being real was just too ridiculous not to be laughed at, so finding out that I had been wrong all along was surely a shock to me.

But even though I was shocked - and also pretty much afraid of what might have happened if I hadn't run out of Freddie's apartment the night he told me the truth - I just couldn't make myself want him to simply disappear from my life, which was probably what a normal person would want in my place. No matter how many times I reminded myself that Freddie was a vampire, I just didn't want him to go away and never come back.

I had to admit that I was kind of surprised when I received Freddie's text asking me to let him explain himself. I had ignored it at first, but for some reason, I couldn't make myself not think about it, and soon, I found myself starting to actually consider hearing what he had to say, even though I was still pretty hesitant to do it. It had taken me a whole day, but I had finally gathered up the courage to text him back asking him to come over.

My heart was racing inside my chest because of the thought that I had just invited a vampire over to my house, but no matter how many times I told myself that the vampire was actually Freddie, I still couldn't make myself calm down. I guess I could blame the fact that I had caught myself wondering if the Freddie that had been hanging out with me and Carly for the past few weeks was the same Freddie from before - the same Freddie I had fallen for.

I was worried about what the answer to that might be, and I honestly didn't know what I'd do if I found out that the Freddie I had once known was gone forever. I quickly pushed that thought away, not being able to even consider it. Freddie was still the same; he had to be.

I sighed, wondering how long it would take for Freddie to get to my house, when the sound of the doorbell ringing suddenly echoed through the completely silent house, sending a chill down my spine.

It was time to stop being a coward and actually face my problems instead of trying to hide from them, which was exactly what I had been doing for the past two days. I took a deep breath and stood up from the couch, before walking over to the front door. I rested my right hand on the key and hesitated for a moment, trying to gather up the courage to open the door.

It took me a few seconds, but I finally managed to make myself unlock the door and yank it open, only to reveal the subject of my conflicted thoughts standing just outside the door, on the front porch.

I don't know how much time we just stood there, simply staring at each other as if we were trying to read each other's thoughts, but I was sure it had been over a minute.

I had to admit I felt glad that Freddie was wearing contacts lenses; I don't think I'd be able to look at him in the eye if, instead of brown, his eyes were that bright shade of crimson. But even though the eyes I was looking into were chocolate brown, I still found myself unable to speak, and apparently, Freddie was just as speechless as I was.

When I finally managed to make myself tear my eyes away from his, I stepped aside wordlessly, allowing him inside the house. He walked past me calmly, and as soon as he was inside, I closed the door shut, but I didn't turn around to face him right away. I remained the same way I was for several seconds, trying to calm myself down. My heart was racing even more than before and my hands were shaking slightly.

Well, it was time.

Somewhat managing to ignore my nervousness, I finally turned around and caught sight Freddie standing in the middle of the living room, watching me expectantly. I knew he was expecting me to say something, but I honestly couldn't find my voice to speak. I took a few steps toward him, but paused as soon as I reached the living room, my eyes not leaving his for ever a single second.

_Man up, Puckett,_ I told myself._ Just standing there won't get anything done, will it? _Keeping that last part in mind, I finally managed to find my voice and break the tense silence that had taken over the room.

"You told me you wanted to explain yourself," I began, my voice coming out a lot weaker than I had intended it to.

Freddie nodded lightly. "Well, you didn't really give me the chance to talk that night, did you?" he replied.

"I just..." I started, but found myself unable to finish that. Thankfully, there was no need to.

"You don't need to explain yourself, Sam. You were shocked, and... Well, afraid, and I guess I shouldn't have expected things to be any different," he told me. His tone was calm and soft, which, for some reason, helped me calm down a little bit.

"So, the story you told me... about you being attacked in the camp and all... It was all true?" I asked, but it sounded more like a statement than a question.

Freddie nodded in response. "Every word of it."

"And... You're actually a vampire?" I asked, even though he had pretty much made that clear already. I guess I just needed some kind of confirmation.

"Yes," he said, his voice still low and calm.

I hesitated for a moment, simply watching him for a few seconds as I tried to make myself speak again. There were just so many questions running through my head at the moment, but I suddenly found myself unable to put any of those into words. I wanted to know more – what exactly had happened to him in the woods; what exactly it meant to be a vampire; why he had kept all that from us.

"How is that even possible?" I asked, shaking my head lightly. "I mean, you said that you had been attacked in the woods, but still, I…" I just couldn't make myself finish that.

Freddie looked down for a moment before speaking again. "I think you'd better sit down," he finally said. "It's a pretty long story."

I hesitated for a few seconds, but I ended up making my way over to the couch and sitting down on it. Freddie remained standing, though, and I assumed he was trying to keep a certain distance between us, as if trying to make me feel a little calmer.

And after I was seated, Freddie spoke once again. I was completely silent, simply listening to everything he was saying without saying a single word. He told me the same story he had told me back in his apartment, but this time, he explained everything with a lot more detail than before, saying why the whole camp had gone hiking in the first place and telling me more about the guy who had told a vampire story at the campfire. According to Freddie, he had had a bad feeling about that guy since the first time he met him, but he had no idea what the guy was hiding back then.

When the whole camp went hiking, everything was going fine at first, until the second day in the woods, when everyone scattered around the forest because of a bear that had inexplicably come out of nowhere. He and another boy from the camp ended up lost in the woods together, but they had no idea how to find their way back to the camp. Honestly, the whole story sounded pretty ordinary up until that point. That was, until...

"At night, we began hearing some weird sounds in the woods around us," Freddie said. "We shrugged it off at first, because we thought it might have been the wind or something, but soon, a man stepped out of the woods." He made a short pause. "He was a vampire, we could tell that much because of his crimson eyes." Freddie was looking down now, as if avoiding my gaze.

"We knew for sure that he would kill us, but some kind of gigantic wolf came out of the woods and attacked him before the vampire had the chance to do anything," Freddie went on. "Just later on I found out that it wasn't any kind of ordinary wolf." He looked back up at me before he continued speaking. "It was a werewolf."

My eyes widened at the word. So not only were vampires real, but so were werewolves. What else now? Witches? Ghosts? What other kinds of supernatural creatures could be living in this world without anyone even knowing about their existance?

When Freddie realized that I wouldn't say anything, he continued. "The werewolf didn't do much, though, because the vampire soon knocked him out." Freddie's voice was low now, and I instantly knew that he was reliving everything he was telling me inside his head. "The vampire probably decided it was better to just choose one of us to kill before the wolf woke up." He made a short pause. "He chose me."

I looked down at the carpet, suddenly finding it extremely hard to look at Freddie in the eye. My mind was racing as I tried to process everything I was hearing, my ability to speak long since gone.

"He got me away from there, and before I could do anything, he bit my wrist. And that was when I was sure I would die." I looked up, only to find Freddie watching me closely. "He let go, though. But not because he meant to," he continued, his eyes still focused on me intensely. "The wolf was back, and there was another one with him. The two wolves killed the vampire, but it was already too late. The vampire had already bitten me."

I frowned, finally managing to make myself speak again. "Wait, so you just have to be… bitten?" I asked.

Freddie nodded lightly in response. "Our bite is venomous," he told me. "When someone is bitten by a vampire, the venom makes it impossible for the person to fight back. But if the vampire lets go, the venom spreads, and… well, I think you know what happens." He paused for a moment, probably to check if I'd say anything, but when he realized that I wouldn't, he continued. "Of course, I had no idea what was happening to me until the transformation was over."

"Transformation?"

Freddie hesitated for a moment. "The venom makes you feel like every inch of your body is on fire," he explained. "You feel like you're being burnt alive for three days straight. It's honestly the worst pain anyone could ever experience."

I shook my head lightly, unable to say anything. While I was here in Seattle, having fun with Carly and planning the next iCarly, which had been broadcast the week Freddie was back from that camp, Freddie was several miles away, feeling like he was burning in some kind of giant campfire in the middle of a forest. That just didn't sound right at all.

"When the transformation was over, the guy from the campfire, whose name I just then found out was David, was there. And it was then that I found out the truth about him." Freddie paused for a moment. "He was a vampire."

"He was the boy from the story," I whispered, remembering the name of the boy from the ghost story Freddie had mentioned earlier, and Freddie nodded lightly in response. "What was he doing there?"

"He wanted to help me," Freddie answered. "He taught me everything I needed to know about being a vampire." He looked down at the carpet once again. "I spent a few days away from the camp, trying to learn how to handle all this."

"That's why you stopped replying to Carly's e-mails," I assumed.

Freddie nodded. "David showed me there was another way to live," Freddie continued. "I don't need to kill to survive."

I frowned at him. "How?" I asked. "You simply don't… feed?" For some reason, it was pretty hard for me to say that last part.

Freddie shook his head in response. "No," he replied. "I don't feed on people." Probably noticing the confused expression on my face, he quickly went on. "I only drink animal blood," he explained. "It makes me a bit weaker, but it's enough to keep me alive."

"So you've never… killed anyone?" I asked one of the various questions that had been lingering in my mind for the past two days.

"No," Freddie replied. "But I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to control myself before I went back to the camp," he added after a brief pause. "The instincts are really strong; so much that many vampires just give in to urge to kill. But fortunately, I guess I have a lot of self-control."

I nodded lightly in response, looking down once again, but I remained quiet. I was relieved to know that Freddie hadn't simply turned into some kind of heartless murderer, but that didn't mean that he couldn't lose control at any second. That last thought made me suddenly grow even more nervous than I already was.

"But everything that happened to me doesn't change anything, Sam," Freddie told me. "I know you might not believe it, but I'm still the same. I'm still me," he told me, and even though I wanted to believe him, I just couldn't; at least not yet.

"I just... I just can't make myself believe that, Freddie," I voiced my thoughts, shaking my head lightly as I looked back up at him.

"And I'm not expecting you to," Freddie told me. "I know that this is a lot to digest, and I can't blame you for not trusting me yet. But I need you to understand something." He made a short pause as he took a few steps closer to me and kneeled down on the floor right in front of me, looking deep into my eyes. I subconsciously tensed up and leaned back into the couch, suddenly feeling cornered. "I promise you that I will never hurt any of you. You don't have to be afraid of me."

As I looked into his eyes, it was like I could actually see the truth behind his words. It was like I somehow knew that he actually meant what he said. But there was still a part of me that was afraid of letting my guard down; of actually letting myself trust him again, since he didn't actually have the full control of himself.

"Why didn't you tell us about any of this?" I asked suddenly, my voice just as low as a whisper.

Freddie looked down for a moment. "I was afraid that you guys wouldn't accept me," he told me. "That you'd all be so afraid of me that you wouldn't want me in your lives anymore." He looked back up at me as he said the last part, and I suddenly realized that he was afraid that was happening with me right now. He feared that I was so afraid if him that I would want him to simply disappear from my life.

"I can't tell you that I can ignore this, Freddie, because honestly, I don't think I can," I told him, and he looked down, as if expecting me to tell him to go away and never come back. "But I'm not gonna push you away either." As soon as he heard that, Freddie looked back up at me, his eyes suddenly hopeful. "I just need some time," I added, not wanting him to get the wrong idea.

"That's okay," he said. "Take all the time you need. But please, don't tell anyone about this," he pleaded, and I nodded silently in response. I hadn't been planning on sharing this with anyone else, anyway.

"I wasn't planning to," I told him, and he nodded lightly.

"Promise?" he asked.

I heistated for a moment before responding. "Promise," I finally said.

An awkward silence took over the room, but I felt too uncomfortable to break it, and apparently, so did Freddie. After several seconds, though, I finally made myself speak again.

"Am I the only one who knows?" I asked, suddenly breaking the silence.

Freddie nodded in response. "I had planned to keep things that way, at least for now, but, well… I guess you didn't give me any choice," he said, shrugging lightly.

"I just needed to know the truth," I said.

"I know," he replied. "Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't just have told all of you the truth when I came back from the camp, but I just…" He shook his head lightly. "I just can't make myself do it, even though I know they'll end up figuring out the truth sooner or later."

"And why is that?" I asked.

"Because it's just a matter of time until people realize that I'm not getting any older," Freddie said, shrugging lightly, as if it wasn't a big deal.

But it was.

My eyes widened as the meaning of his words actually sunk in. "You… You're not aging anymore?" I somehow made myself ask, my voice coming out just as low as a whisper.

Freddie shook his head lightly in response. "No," he said.

I looked down, avoiding his gaze. I was so shocked by what I had just heard that it took me several seconds to be able to speak again. "I just…" I shook my head, trying to organize my thoughts. "This is just too… unreal. I mean, I don't even know what to think," I finally said, before falling silent for a moment. "What is it like?" I asked suddenly, finally looking back up at Freddie. "Being a vampire, I mean."

Freddie hesitated for a moment before answering. "It has its ups and downs," he admitted. "Everything is heightened - your senses, your feelings. You're a hundred times faster and stronger than before. You feel like you can do pretty much anything."

"That doesn't sound too bad," I said.

"Well, the bloodlust kinda ruins it," he told me.

I frowned lightly at him. "But didn't you say that you had it under control?" I asked.

He nodded lightly. "I do, but…" He shook his head lightly. "That doesn't mean it isn't there, and resisting it… It hurts." He stood up from where he had been kneeling and took a few steps away from me, before turning around once again, his arms now crossed over his chest. "It's like… someone just shoved a piece of incandescent metal down your throat. It hurts, but I do my best to ignore it."

"Is it hurting right now?" I asked.

Freddie hesitated for a moment, but he ended up nodding in response, looking down at the carpet once again.

Silence fell upon us for a long moment, during which I tried to make myself process what I had just heard. My mind was racing, and I suddenly found myself unable to form any kind of coherent thought.

"I'm sorry," I said after a long silent pause, looking back up at Freddie.

He frowned at me, clearly confused. "For what?"

I shrugged lightly. "I'm sorry that this happened to you," I explained.

Freddie nodded lightly. "Thank you," he said, and we both fell silent once again. The silence soon began to grow awkward, and I guess Freddie took that as his cue to leave. "Well, uh… I should probably get going now," he said after what I could only guess had been over two minutes of silence, and I simply nodded in response.

Freddie hesitated, eyeing me for a moment, before finally beginning to make his way over to the front door. But as soon as he opened the door, he paused, before turning back around to face me.

"Thank you for hearing me out," he said.

I nodded, somehow managing to send him a shy smile, to which he responded with one of his own.

And as soon as the door was closed shut behind him, I let out a breath I just then realized I had been holding, before resting my head in my hands as I tried to process everything I had just heard.

This was just too much.

I had always been Sam, the girl who could handle pretty much anything. I could handle the fact that my mother seemed to care more about her alcohol cabinet than about me. I could handle the fact that every single person in my family seemed to have Melanie as their favorite twin. I had been somewhat able to handle the fact that Freddie would never love me back.

But _this_? This was not something I had ever been prepared to deal with, nor would I ever be.

It was shocking to realize what kind of world we lived in. Vampires, werewolves and I had no idea what else wandered among us, and no one even had a single clue about it.

I shook my head, just then realizing how badly I was shaking. I had no idea what I should do or what I should think. Freddie's visit seemed to have made me grow even more confused than I had already been before.

What was I supposed to do now? Freddie was a _vampire_. How the hell could someone live normally knowing _that_? How was I supposed to act around him from now on?

Usually, when I felt so conflicted like this, I would go to Carly for help. That girl always knew the right thing to say, and she somehow always made me feel better. But this wasn't something I could share with her, or with anyone on this planet for that matter.

I had promised Freddie that I would keep his secret, and I would keep that promise. That was, until he did something that made me change my mind. I wouldn't tell anyone about his secret if he proved to me that he was worth my trust; that he would actually never hurt us, just like he had promised me.

But if he ever even tried to hurt any of us; if he became a threat to anyone I cared about, then I wouldn't be able to keep my promise.

If he kept his promise, then I'd keep mine.

I just hoped I wouldn't regret this later.

Sighing, I somehow made myself stand up from the couch and walk over to the front door. I locked it, and then made my way toward the stairs, suddenly feeling unusually tired. And when I finally got to my room, I started getting ready to go to bed.

Sleep took a long while to come. I kept rolling around my bed for what seemed like hours, but the thoughts about my conversation with Freddie just wouldn't leave my mind. I just wanted to turn the world off for a while, and most of the time, sleep was the only way to do that, but my mind just didn't seem capable of understanding that.

And after several hours of pointlessly trying to make myself stop thinking about everything I had heard today, I finally managed to fall asleep, but my troubled thoughts haunted every second of my sleep.

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**Author's Note: I wasn't planning on ending the chapter there, but this chapter turned out _way _too long (over 7,000 words), so I had to split it up in two different chapters XP**

**Thank you so much for reading! =D**

**And please review! You guys have no idea how happy every single review I get makes me =P**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	20. Chapter 20: You're Undead to Me

**Author's Note: I know, I know, I really do suck at updating XDDD In my defense, my school just doesn't know what free-time means.**

**This chapter is the second half of the last chapter, since chapter 19 turned out _way_ too long and I had to split it up into two chapters.**

**Oh, and by the way, while you read this chapter, I'd like you to keep something in mind. Read the whole chapter before you jump to any conclusion, because everything is not what is seems. Enough said. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight.**

**Enjoy! ;D**

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Chapter 20: You're Undead to Me

**Freddie's POV**

I paused at the front porch of Sam's house.

It was clear to me that Sam was still pretty hesitant and nervous to be around me. I guess I should be glad that she was apparently willing to give me a chance to show her that I was still the same Freddie I had been before I turned, and that she could trust me, because I honestly didn't know what I'd do if she didn't want to see me anymore. Even the single thought of Sam hating me or just being so afraid of me that she wanted me to disappear from her life was already unbearable.

It had taken me an enormous amount of self-control, but I had somehow managed to control myself while I talked to her. Being away from her for just as long as two days had already had a pretty negative effect on my self-control, but as the minutes passed, the thirst seemed to grow more bearable. The urge to tear Sam's jugular open was still there during every second of the conversation, though.

I simply stood outside Sam's front door for a moment, studying her heartbeat coming from inside the house. I could tell that she was a bit calmer now that I wasn't in there with her anymore, but her heart was still beating quite faster than usual. I just hoped that someday she wouldn't feel so nervous around me anymore, and that she would go back to thinking of me as a friend.

I sighed, finally making myself move away from the porch and into the night, making my way back to Bushwell Plaza.

**Sam's POV**

I yanked the Shays' front door open and walked inside without even knocking, just like I always did.

"Carly!" I yelled, calling out to my best friend, but as soon as I did it, I regretted it, because I then spotted Spencer sleeping on the couch.

I remained frozen for a second, waiting to see whether or not I had woken him up, but after a few seconds, I realized that I hadn't. At that realization, I allowed my body to relax and calmly walked to the kitchen, trying not to make too much noise as I grabbed a can of Peppy Cola from the fridge.

I then made my way up the stairs, trying my best to be quiet as my boots drummed against the wooden steps of the staircase, and I soon found myself standing in the hallway of the second floor, staring at the closed door of Carly's bedroom.

"Carly?" I asked, but I got no response from inside my best friend's room. I shrugged, before opening the door without even hesitating and walking inside like I lived there, which was almost true anyway.

But instead of finding Carly inside the room, I found myself standing alone in the room, since there was no sign of Carly anywhere.

I frowned, wondering where she was, and just then I realized that she was probably upstairs in the iCarly studio. I left the room and climbed up the stairs lazily, and soon enough, I found myself standing in the center of the empty studio. I looked around confusedly, since Carly was, once again, nowhere in sight.

She had texted me earlier asking me to come over because she needed to talk to me, so where the hell was she?

_Maybe she went somewhere and will be back soon, _I thought to myself, deciding that there was not much to do apart from simply waiting for Carly to show up.

Shrugging, I walked back downstairs, still trying to be silent in an effort to try not to wake Spencer up, and then headed back to the fridge with the purpose of entertaining myself with some food while I waited.

But the wait soon proved itself to be in vain.

Over an hour passed, and Carly was still nowhere to be seen. I tried texting her, expecting her to tell me where she was, but she didn't reply to any of my texts. It was like she was ignoring me or something, or maybe she was just busy and couldn't answer me at the moment. Either way, I was too curious and impatient to simply sit around for any longer, so I finally decided to wake Spencer up and ask him if he knew where she was. That was, if he hadn't already been asleep when she left, but questioning him about it was still worth a shot.

I quickly walked over to the couch, not bothering to be silent anymore, but even with the noise my boots made against the wooden floor, Spencer didn't even stir in his sleep. When I reached the couch, I rounded it and stood right behind it, my back turned to the stairs.

"Spencer?" I whispered, shaking his shoulder lightly with my right hand, but he didn't show any sign that he had even heard me. "Spencer?" I repeated a bit louder his time, but once again, I got no response from his part. "Spencer!" I yelled, not caring to be gentle anymore. I had never known that Spencer was such a heavy sleeper.

When he remained the way he had been for the past whole hour, I lost my patience. Sighing loudly, I grabbed his shoulder with both my hands and made him roll over forcefully, since he had been lying on his side. And when I successfully managed to get him lying on his back, I gasped at what I saw and jumped back, shocked.

I remained frozen for a moment, not knowing what to do. And after what I guessed had been over five minutes, I finally made myself take another look at Spencer, but the image I had seen hadn't changed a bit.

Anyone would have said that Spencer was just peacefully sleeping if it wasn't for the big and bloody bite mark on the left side of his neck, the blood covering the wound already dry. I hesitantly reached out my hand and rested it on his chest, hoping to feel a heartbeat against my palm, but I felt nothing. With my breath noticeably heavier than usual, I moved my hand up and pressed two fingers against the right side of his neck, which was the one that wasn't wounded, but yet again, I felt no pulse.

He was dead.

Tears filled my eyes as the last thought echoed inside my head repeatedly. He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't. Spencer had been the older brother I had never had, and no matter what happened, he had always been there for me. The thought of him being dead freaked me out so much that I felt as if my knees would give out at any moment, and when they did, I'd just lay on the floor crying for hours.

And that was when I heard it.

A glass-shattering scream echoed through the whole building, apparently coming from across the hallway. If I hadn't recognized that high-pitched scream, I'd never do what I did, but as I was somewhat familiar with that sound, I ran out of the Shay apartment and crossed the hallway in less than three seconds.

Carly.

The door of the Bensons' apartment was unlocked, which was extremely odd, since Mrs. Benson _never_ left that door open as far as I knew, but I didn't put much thought into it. I had other things to worry about at the moment.

As soon as I stepped inside, I looked around frantically, trying to find out where the scream had come from, but there was no sign of anyone inside the apartment. That was, until…

I heard the scream once again, but this time, it sounded a lot more desperate than before.

I spun around, just then realizing that the scream had come from the kitchen. Without even thinking, I ran toward the source of the sound, and the next thing I knew was that I was standing in the center of the kitchen, looking around frantically.

And there, lying on the kitchen floor was Carly, in the same state I had found Spencer in - with a bloody bite mark on the left side of her neck. The only difference was that the blood staining her skin and the floor around her was still fresh.

I fell to my knees right next to her as my eyes started to tear up once again, and I let the tears fall freely. I repeated the ritual I had done with Spencer, looking for a pulse or any hint that my best friend was still alive, but just like it had happened with her older brother, I found none.

And right then and there, I let myself break down in tears. I don't know how long I stayed there, kneeled next to Carly's lifeless body, sobbing as I let the tears fall freely. I had completely lost track of time.

I couldn't let myself believe Freddie had done this, even though he was the only one who could. I had tried to pretend that he was normal, and that he was still the same. I had tried to forget that he was actually a murderer, and that everyone around him could be dead faster than I could even blink if he wanted to. He was a vampire, and I guess I was just now accepting that and realizing the real meaning of that sentence.

"Well, well, isn't this heartbreaking? I mean, it might be for someone who actually has a beating heart." A chill ran down my spine as I recognized the voice coming from behind me, and I quickly turned around, startled.

Freddie was leaning against the kitchen doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were scarlet red, and there was fresh blood covering his mouth and chin. I swallowed dryly at the sight, standing up from the floor and glaring at him.

"Freddie," I whispered, but his face remained emotionless. "What did you do?" My voice was shaking, but I did my best to hold back the rest of the tears that were threatening to fall.

Without a word, Freddie took a few steps in my direction, and I took a few steps back, which caused a small smile to form on Freddie's lips. He seemed to be trying to round me, but I refused to have my back turned at him. I had lost all the trust I had ever had on him.

We went on like that for a few seconds, until I found myself with my back turned to the door, the way to the living room free, since Freddie was now standing on the other side of the kitchen, eyeing me carefully. There was this voice in the back of my head telling me that I had to get the hell out of that kitchen, and that was exactly what I planned on doing.

So I took off running.

But I didn't go far. I had barely reached the living room when Freddie was suddenly standing right in front of me, and I almost lost my balance when I tried to stop fast enough not to run right into him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Freddie asked, clearly amused. I kept trying to think of a way to get out of there, but I doubted I'd be able to get away from a vampire, if that was even possible.

Freddie seemed to know what I was up to, because he then sprinted forward in a blur. I didn't even have time to scream before I found myself with my back pressed against one of the living room walls. It happened so fast that I didn't realize what he had done until it was already over.

I stared at Freddie expectantly as he simply eyed me, feeling as if his scarlet gaze was able to read right through me.

"Why so nervous?" Freddie asked me, the amusement in his voice matching the one in his eyes as he moved one lock of my golden hair away from my forehead to calmly tuck it behind my right ear.

"You killed them," I whispered accusingly. "You killed them, and you're not even sorry about it." I didn't know where all that courage was coming from, but I knew that if I was going to die, I'd rather not let Freddie think that I was afraid of him.

"Why would I be sorry? They were just weak humans. I don't see why you cared so much about them," he said, and I simply gaped at him, not even bothering to hide my shock.

My voice was completely caught in my throat; I had officially lost my ability to speak.

Freddie seemed pretty amused by that, since he had a smirk playing on his lips. But the smirk soon wore off, and Freddie suddenly leaned in, until I could feel his breath tickling my lips, sending a chill down my spine. My breath was noticeably heavier than usual and I could actually feel my heart racing inside my chest, and I was aware of the fact that Freddie could hear it.

The next thing I knew was that Freddie brushed his lips softly against mine, but the contact lasted for barely a second. He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me closer as he planted a kiss on the corner of my lips, and I found myself unable to protest. He went on like that for a few seconds, until I felt his lips coming in contact with the skin of my neck.

I gasped when I felt Freddie's cold lips against my skin, and I couldn't stop myself from gripping onto his shoulders tightly. My thoughts were so incoherent that I felt as if my mind had gone completely numb.

Freddie kissed my neck once again, and my grip on his shoulders tightened. I felt Freddie's breath tickling my skin as he chuckled at my lack of control, before he planted another kiss on my skin. I closed my eyes at the feeling as I absentmindedly let my head fall back, giving Freddie more access to my neck. I didn't know what was happening to me, but I didn't want him to stop. I just...

And that was when I felt a sharp pain in my neck.

My eyes widened in shock as I realized what was happening, and I desperately tried to push Freddie off me, but I just couldn't.

He was too strong.

Freddie's arm seemed to be made of stone as he held me in place, and no matter how much I tried to break free from his grasp, I just couldn't do it.

I felt myself getting weaker and weaker at each second that went by, and after what I guessed had been several seconds of struggling in vain in order to try to break myself free, I gave in and quit fighting, finally accepting the fact that there was no way I'd manage to escape from Freddie.

I closed my eyes, letting my head fall back once again. The pain caused by Freddie's fangs buried into my skin was gradually overpowered by a numb feeling that began to take over my entire body as Freddie slowly sucked every single drop of blood that there was in my veins. He was completely supporting my body now, since I didn't even have the strength to stand anymore.

And in no time at all, darkness took over me.

I sat up abruptly, gasping for air.

It took me several seconds to realize that I was safe in my room, and that it all had been a dream.

I let out a shaky breath as I let myself fall back onto my bed, my heart racing inside my chest. I tried to tell myself that it had all been a dream and that Freddie would never do something like that to any of us, just like he had promised me, but there was a part of me that kept asking me how I could be so sure about that. Of course, Freddie had told me that he would never hurt us, but how could I be sure that I could trust him? He could be only trying to gain my trust, pretending to be the same Freddie I had known until I let my guard down, and in the moment, everything would be lost.

But he also might actually be the same, and he may be truly afraid of losing any one of us because we might be too terrified of him to want him around, that being the reason as to why he had decided not to tell anyone about his secret.

And anyway, if he really wanted any of us dead, I guessed he would have killed us already. Why wait? Why try to make us believe that he wouldn't hurt us and make promises like he did to me, when it would be extremely easier for him to just go and kill us all?

I shook my head, telling myself that worrying about all that wouldn't solve anything. Only time would tell if Freddie was really still himself and if I could really trust him. I just hoped that if that wasn't the case, I didn't find out about it too late.

I sighed, rolling over on my bed. It took me several minutes, but I somehow managed to actually push all those thoughts away for the time being and calm down enough to fall asleep again.

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**Author's Note: I'm pretty sure you all hated me for a few minutes there XD I knew that writing Sam's part in italic would give away the fact that it was a dream right away, and that was the exact opposite of what I wanted XP But I hope you enjoyed that brief Seddie action there, even though it was a dream and all XD**

**Thank you all so much for reading! =)**

**Review! =D**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	21. Chapter 21: Unspoken Fears

**Author's Note: I really wish I had a good excuse for not updating for so long, but honestly, I don't... Yeah, I know XD I'm sorry! *puppy dog eyes***

**But before we go on... OMG, is this real life? Did I really reach 100 reviews? :O OMG, I can't believe this! You guys are truly the best! I love you all so much! =) Thank you so much for your support, it really means the world to me! =)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight.**

**Enjoy! ;D**

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Chapter 21: Unspoken Fears

**Sam's POV**

I think it's no surprise when I say that I didn't sleep well at all that night.

That dream wasn't the only one I had that night. Every single time I managed to fall asleep, which seemed like an unusually difficult task that night, another dream like that first one would instantly slip into my mind, and the new one was always a hundred times worse than the previous one. I must have woken up over ten times during the night, so that must be the reason why it was so hard for me to get up from bed to go to school the next morning. For a moment, I almost decided to simply ditch school one more time that week, but I ended up deciding to go. I mean, it wasn't like I could ignore Freddie for the rest of my life.

I had already pretended to be sick for too long, and that vague text message I had sent Carly wouldn't keep her away from my house for much longer. And anyway, running away from my problems, simply hiding at home like some kind of scared and cornered animal, wouldn't make anything better.

Keeping that last thought in mind, I somehow managed to make myself get ready for school, cook myself a quick breakfast and leave. But if I had somewhat calmed down since the moment Freddie had walked out of my house the previous night, the calmness was completely gone as soon as I entered Ridgeway.

I just couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't any tiny bit of truth behind all those terrible nightmares. What if Freddie really wasn't the same and everything he had said to me the night before about being afraid of losing everyone was actually an act? What if he was only trying to earn my trust, just so I wouldn't leave my guard up around him and later on, he'd be able to attack, and I wouldn't even see it coming?

Those thoughts were extremely painful, but I couldn't simply ignore them, since I knew that they might end up being true, and being in denial about them wouldn't help me at all.

I had been trying to avoid thinking about those things, but those dreams just wouldn't let me get that trail of thought out of my mind, and no matter how much I tried to just push all those thoughts away, they were always lurking in the back of my mind, haunting my every waking moment.

I felt so helpless that it was actually revolting, since I absolutely hated to feel that way. The worst part of all this was that I knew that even if all of my fears actually came true; even if Freddie had actually become some kind of heartless murderer that was just pretending to be the old Freddie and fooling us all, there wasn't much I could do about it. He was a vampire for ham's sake, so what the hell could I do against him?

There was this little voice in the back of my head that kept telling me that the best thing I could do was tell Carly and the others about what I had found out, since deep down I knew that I might not be able to handle all this on my own like I had been trying to do. But I also couldn't make myself forget that I had promised Freddie that I'd keep his secret, and I somehow couldn't make myself break that promise; at least not yet. I mean, what if my assumptions were wrong? What if everything Freddie had told me was actually true? If so, I would be betraying his trust if I told anyone about him, which was something I, for some reason, found myself unable to do.

Freddie had not yet given me any reason to doubt everything he had told me, so for now, I wouldn't do anything. I would keep my promise, but I still couldn't make myself trust him again; at least not so soon.

That was, if I would ever be able to trust him again.

I sighed, coming to the conclusion that there was nothing I could do about all this apart from simply waiting to see what would happen.

I just hoped that if things ever came to the point where I'd realize that Freddie had actually not been worthy of my trust, it wouldn't be too late to make things right.

**Freddie's POV**

Sam was visibly tense and nervous the next day at school, but I guess I shouldn't have expected any less.

She had indeed taken everything better than I had expected her to, and I should be thankful for that, but it really worried me that her judgment of me might end up changing with time.

I tried not to put much too thought into it, though, since simply worrying about it would do me absolutely no good. I knew I couldn't expect Sam to simply act like everything was okay and there was nothing wrong, or at least not yet. I had been completely open with her, maybe even more than I should, and everything she had heard was surely a lot to take in.

And maybe I was just reading too much into things; maybe I was just worrying too much, like I always did. She was probably just still shocked and nervous about everything I had told her, which was completely understandable, and it would just take her some time to actually be able to wrap her mind around things.

But still, I couldn't help but wonder what was going through her head throughout the days that followed our conversation. Since I couldn't read thoughts, though, I found myself unable to figure it out. I could clearly notice her tensing up whenever I came around and her heartbeat growing slightly faster whenever I moved near her, and all that led me to think that she was still afraid of me.

I had a feeling that there was something else to it, though.

I just hoped that whatever it was, it didn't involve me being completely yanked out of her life for good.

**Marissa's POV**

Could it really be true?

I couldn't help but search my brain for anything that might tell me that it was impossible and that I was just being paranoid, but I failed miserably at it once again. The signs were all there, and they had been for quite some time now. I guess I just had refused to see the truth in them up until now, or at least to accept the possibility that my son had become a monster. I had decided to simply ignore what had been happening right in front of my eyes, judging all the signs as just plain impossible or too crazy to be true, and just now I could see that maybe I had been extremely wrong to do that.

Everything started a few days after Freddie came back from the camp that had been supposed to be a safe place for him, or at least a lot safer than Seattle. Freddie started behaving differently from how he had used to before I sent him away for two weeks, but I tried not to read too much into it back then. I had read in several parenting magazines that teenagers could be pretty moody and that their behavior was something extremely unpredictable and pretty hard to understand, but I soon realized that this was something completely different from what the magazines had been talking about.

Freddie seemed to be pretty tense around me, like he was always expecting me to do something bad to him, or at least fearing that I would. He was also quieter, preferring to be alone or out with those two girls he always hung out with. It almost seemed like he was trying to avoid me. He was also eating relatively less than he used to before, and he would often turn down the meals I prepared for him, saying that he had already eaten over at Carly's or that he just wasn't feeling hungry.

All that intrigued me greatly and it all led me to have the kind of thoughts I had never expected myself to have. I started wondering if it was really possible; if fate was really something ironic enough to do something like that to me, considering everything that I had been through when I was younger, and I soon came to the conclusion that I couldn't live with that doubt.

I needed to know the truth.

I tried to think of ways to find out the truth, but I guess I was still in denial, since I still failed to convince myself that this might actually be happening. But two nights ago, I finally made myself do something about it.

Since Freddie was little, I sometimes went into his room to check on him during the night, but he never knew about it, since I knew he probably wouldn't like it or would feel uncomfortable because of it. I just wanted to make sure that he was fine and that he was sleeping well, so I kept doing it until he became a teenager.

I had stopped doing it since about a year ago, when he turned sixteen, but two nights ago, I decided to do it again. This time, though, my visit had other intentions.

I practically tiptoed to Freddie's room in the middle of the night, doing my best to be silent, just like all the previous times I had done this. When I finally got there, I carefully pushed the door of Freddie's bedroom open and walked inside, before slowly making my way over to his bed, my eyes fighting the darkness that had taken over the room several hours earlier. And as soon as I got there and caught sight of my son's bed, my heart instantly started racing, as if trying to jump right out of my chest.

It was no secret for me that vampires didn't sleep. Jack had told me and my family about that back in the time when we'd visit him and his family somewhat frequently, and I clearly remembered to have been deeply intrigued by that particular piece of information when I was younger. What I saw right in front of my eyes instantly brought that memory back into my mind, driving me into such a state of shock and panic that I found myself unable to move for several minutes.

The bed was empty.

That was exactly what I had feared the most, since a big part of me was hoping with everything I had that I'd find Freddie sleeping peacefully in his bed. But there was other part of me, one that seemed to already know the truth I still stubbornly refused to admit, that had already known that this would happen even before I entered Freddie's room.

And in the next morning, Freddie's behavior was just like it had been during the past few weeks – slightly nervous and tense around me. He also didn't eat much during breakfast, and when I asked him how he had slept, he told me that he had slept pretty well.

But that still wasn't enough to convince me, so I did the exact same thing last night – I went to Freddie's room in the middle of the night and, once again, I found no sign of Freddie anywhere.

And this morning, just as Freddie was about to leave for school, when he walked up to me to tell me that he'd have some kind of meeting for iCarly over at Carly's apartment right after school and that he would go straight there when he got to Bushwell, I realized something that had gone completely unnoticed by me before.

He was wearing contact lenses.

I instantly remembered that Matt had been wearing contacts to hide the red color of his irises the last time I saw him, which seemed to be exactly what Freddie was doing.

But in spite of all those signs, I was still in denial. I mean, teenagers did sneak out quite often, right? What if Freddie was just having some kind of rebellious phase or something? It would explain everything, and that was something that could be fixed. It was something that could be reversed, unlike my other suspicion.

The rebellious phase excuse worked for a few hours, but I soon found myself having the kind of thoughts that frightened me greatly once again.

What if… What if it was true? What if Freddie was indeed a vampire?

That thought brought back the memories I had been trying to keep buried deep inside of me, hidden in the darkest corners of my mind, for over seventeen years. Those memories filled me with so much sorrow and despair that I suddenly found it extremely hard to breathe, and when I looked down at my hands, I realized that I was shaking badly.

When Matt turned into a vampire, I couldn't see him any other way than as a monster. I was sure that I had lost my brother forever, preferring to think that he was dead than to accept the knowledge that he had become a cold, heartless murderer. But how could I think of Freddie that same way? When I lost both my father and my brother, I still had my mother to help me get through all the suffering that came with that terrible loss, even though she needed my help just as much as I needed hers. When she died, I was already married to John, Freddie's father, and he was the one who kept me going. When John died in a car accident when Freddie was just a baby, I still had Freddie. But now, who did I have left? I had never felt so alone and helpless in my whole life.

I suddenly remembered what Jack said when he called me while Freddie was away at that camp. He had told me that there was a boy who had been attacked in the woods and was going through the painful transition into a vampire as we spoke, and that vague piece of information made me wonder if that boy could possibly be my Freddie.

Jack hadn't given me any details on the unfortunate boy, so how could I know for sure?

I looked over at the phone from the spot where I was sitting on the couch, hesitating. I knew there were only two ways to find out the truth.

The first one didn't seem like a good idea to me in any way. I could question Freddie himself about it when he got home from school later today, if that was even where he was right now, but that option just seemed extremely unappealing to me, considering that I had no idea how Freddie would react to my questions if he was really a vampire, and as foreign as it seemed to me, I was afraid of what he might do. I had no idea if Freddie was still himself, and I wasn't willing to risk my own life in order to find out.

The second one was the most rational option. I could call Jack and ask him the name of the boy who had turned a little over a month ago, and that way I'd finally know if the Freddie I had been living with for the past thirty days was still my Freddie-bear.

I obviously decided the second one was the best choice, so I quickly stood up from the couch and marched toward the small table where the phone was set. I held the phone in my shaky hands and took a few deep breaths in a failing effort to try to calm myself down and prepare myself for what I was about to hear, before finally dialing Jack's number.

It didn't take Jack more than five seconds to answer the call, but those five seconds seemed like a true eternity to me. My heart was racing like crazy inside my chest in expectation, and I briefly feared having a heart attack right then and there, but my worry instantly vanished when I heard a man's voice coming from the other end of the phone line; a voice I hadn't expected to hear again so soon, but I guess fate had other plans for me.

"Hello?" Jack's voice reached my right ear, which was the one I was desperately pressing the phone against, causing my heart to skip a beat.

I took another deep breath, preparing myself for what I'd hear next.

_Well, it's now or never, _I thought to myself, finally opening my mouth to speak.

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**Author's Note: Oh, cliffhangers... Don't you all just love them? ;P I know I do XD**

**So, Mrs. Benson isn't as oblivious to her son's vampirism as we'd all thought, huh? I wonder what she'll do when she finds out the truth... Hehe ;D**

**Things will start to get a lot more tense and mysterious in the next chapter ;D Old characters will soon come back, while new characters, new fears and new sets of fangs await ahead ;)**

**Review, review, review! =D**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	22. Chapter 22: Unpleasantville

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight.**

**Enjoy! ;D**

* * *

Chapter 22: Unpleasantville

**Marissa's POV**

"Hello?" Jack's voice reached my ears, causing my heart to practically jump right out of my chest.

I took in a deep breath, since I suddenly felt as if my voice had gotten caught in my throat. This had seemed like a good idea just a few seconds ago, but now, I wasn't so sure about that anymore. "Jack?" I asked into the phone, even though I knew his voice well enough to know that it was really him.

"Yes," Jack replied with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. "Marissa, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," I replied quickly, but ended up hesitating for a moment before going on. "Listen, Jack…" I shifted my weight uncomfortably from one leg to the other, before finally blurting out, "I need to ask you something."

"Okay," he replied, his voice suddenly earning a curious tone. "What is it?"

"Do you remember what you told me the last time we talked?" I asked, and for some reason, it got harder for me to speak with each word that left my mouth. "About a boy who had been attacked in the woods and turned into a vampire?"

Jack paused for a moment, as if unsure of where I wanted to get with that question. "Yeah, I remember," he finally answered, his voice somewhat hesitant.

"Well…" I hesitated for a moment, trying to think of the best way to voice my doubts; to leave all the hesitation aside and ask him the question that had been lingering in my mind for the past few days. "Did the vampire you said was there with him tell you the boy's name?"

"Why do you want to know his name?" Jack asked me, sounding pretty taken aback by my question. I was sure he could tell there was something wrong, but I just found myself unable to open up and tell him about my fears.

"Please, Jack, just... just tell me his name," I pleaded, refusing to explain my reasons for calling him. "It's important."

Jack still hesitated for a brief moment, but he soon ended up giving in with a sigh. "Okay," he finally said. I braced myself for what was about to come, but nothing would have ever been able to prepare me for what I would hear next.

"His name was Freddie."

In that moment, the world seemed to have stopped spinning, and I felt as if everything was crumbling around me. My mind suddenly went blank, as if it refused to accept what I had just heard, or even process it, for that matter.

"Are…" I swallowed dryly, trying to somehow make myself speak, but even with all the effort I put into that, my voice still came out pretty weak and shaky. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Jack replied, suddenly sounding curious once again, since he was probably able to notice the sudden change in my tone of voice. "Are you okay, Marissa?"

"Yeah, uh… I'm fine," I told him. "Thank you, Jack." I didn't wait for his reply before hanging up.

I somehow managed to make my way over to the couch, where I sat down, and then I finally let the tears fall freely.

I couldn't believe this was actually happening. Since the day Freddie was born, I had tried to protect him from all this; I had tried to keep him away from anything that had to do with the supernatural, but apparently, I had failed miserably at it.

And I couldn't help but blame myself for what had happened to him. I was the one who had sent him to that camp – a camp he didn't even want to go to in the first place.

I had lost my precious Freddie, and I was the only one to blame for it.

But what should I do next? Was there even anything I _could_ do in a situation like this? One thing was for sure, though; I couldn't just keep living my life like there was nothing wrong. I wouldn't be able to look at this… this _vampire_ and pretend that it was still my Freddie.

And that was when I remembered something Jack had told my family about back when we used to visit them. He had told us about an herb that was extremely toxic to vampires; one that could weaken them greatly. If I could manage to weaken Freddie with that herb, then maybe I'd be able to lock him up somewhere, where he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.

I just didn't know how exactly I was going to do that.

**Freddie's POV**

Several days had passed since Sam had found out about me, and I was glad to see that she was beginning to act normally around me again. Of course, I could easily tell that she still grew pretty nervous whenever I came around, but she seemed to be somewhat calmer than before, and that was already a lot of progress in my opinion.

I had been worried that all this would end up pushing us apart, but much to my relief, I had a feeling that one day, things would be normal between us once again. She was obviously still a bit hesitant to be around me, but that didn't bother me that much, since I believed that would go away eventually.

But as shocking as it might seem, Sam wasn't the one I had been worried about during the past few days.

My mother had been acting extremely weird this past whole week. She was a lot quieter than usual, and sometimes I even thought that she might be avoiding me. I had no idea what her strange behavior was about, but I didn't put much thought into it, since I might just be reading too much into things.

But as I walked inside my apartment after one of our various weekly iCarly rehearsals, I found out just how wrong I had been to think that.

My mother was in the kitchen, and as soon as I walked in, I noticed an unusual smell in the air. It was extremely unpleasant, and it provoked a weird tingling feeling in my nostrils when I breathed it in, but I couldn't entirely define what it was, or where I remembered it from.

I was about to walk to my room, trying to get away from that weird and slightly familiar smell, when my mother suddenly looked up at me.

"Freddie!" she called from the kitchen. "Could you come over here for a second?"

I hesitated for a moment, but I ended up making my way to the kitchen.

"Would you drink this and tell me what you think?" my mother asked me as soon as I walked into the kitchen, pointing at a glass containing some sort of thick pink liquid, which looked like some kind of smoothie. She was holding an identical cup in her hands.

The unpleasant smell was even stronger in the kitchen, but I tried to ignore it as I spoke. "Uh… Yeah, sure," I said, already dreading what I was about to do. As a vampire, human food tasted horrible to me, but I had been managing to eat some while I was with my mother and Carly, just to keep my human facade up. The exact same thing happened with most drinks, including smoothies, a fact I was pretty aware of due to the way too many visits I'd made to the Groovy Smoothie with Carly and Sam during the past few weeks. "What is this?" I asked my mother as I picked the glass up from the kitchen island.

"It's just something I read about in one of my parenting magazines," she replied, shrugging lightly. "It's really good for your skin."

I shrugged lightly at that, since my mother had always made me drink or eat things she had read about in those magazines.

As I started raising the glass up to my lips, I didn't fail to notice the expectant look that suddenly crossed my mother's eyes. Just then I realized that her heart was beating faster than normal, as if she suddenly felt nervous for some reason.

I ignored that at the moment, deciding to ask her if she was okay after I'd drank this smoothie thing, when realization suddenly dawned upon me, and I stopped raising the glass instantly.

I suddenly realized what this unpleasant smell reminded me of, and the memory of the day I had breathed it in for the first time quickly popped into my mind.

Vervain.

I remembered David telling me about that herb. He had told me that it was extremely toxic to vampires, and that it could weaken us if ingested. He had showed me a small branch with a tiny lilac flower on its tip, saying that it was vervain. Out of curiosity, I touched the flower, and I was shocked when it burned my skin.

Now I remembered the smell of the plant perfectly; it was the exact same smell that, for some reason, had taken over the air in the entire apartment, and also the one that was coming from the cup I was holding…

I looked up at my mother, eyeing her carefully. She was watching me with what I could only guess was fear in her eyes, and it was in that moment that I realized what was going on.

"You know," I said, my voice coming out just as low as a whisper. There was just no other explanation for it. Vervain wasn't exactly a common herb to have at home, and considering that she had put it in a smoothie she insisted I drank, that could only lead me to believe that she had somehow found out the truth about me.

"Wh-What do you mean?" she stuttered as she slowly placed her glass on the kitchen island, not even bothering to hide her nervousness anymore, or maybe she was just failing miserably at it.

"You've been acting weird around me for the past whole week, and sometimes I thought you were even trying to avoid me. And now you put vervain in this and try to make me drink it," I explained as I laid my own glass back on the kitchen island, my eyes never leaving hers. "You know."

She seemed unable to respond to that for a moment, until she nodded lightly, wordlessly giving me all the confirmation I needed.

"Mom," I started, taking one step forward, but I instantly regretted doing that when I noticed that my mother stepped back in fear.

"Don't get near me," she said, sounding completely terrified.

"Don't be afraid," I told her, but this time I didn't try to get closer to where she was standing, since I was afraid of what her reaction to that might be.

"I mean it, don't get any closer!" she exclaimed, taking a few more steps back.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I told her, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. "I would never hurt you."

As I spoke, she reached for something on the inside of her jacket, and when she pulled it out, my eyes widened slightly in surprise. It was a small syringe, and it had some kind of greenish liquid inside of it, which I instantly knew was vervain.

I was frozen for a moment, unsure of how to react to that. Did she really want to vervain me?

"Mom, put that down so we can talk," I told her in the calmest tone I could muster in a moment like this. She obviously wouldn't be able to vervain me, but the fact that she had actually considered doing that truly hurt me.

"I don't want to hear anything coming from you," she said, and I could hear in her voice that she was holding back tears.

She suddenly sprung forward with the clear intention of trying to hit me with the needle. She found herself swinging the syringe through empty air, though, since I effortlessly got out of the way in a blur, and in just a second, I was standing on the other side of the kitchen.

My mother looked around confusedly for a moment, until her eyes finally found me again.

"Get out of here," she told me, a tear rolling its way down her cheek.

"Mom, just let me-" She didn't let me finish that.

"I said, get out!" she exclaimed, her desperate tone catching me off guard.

I hesitated for a second, eyeing her carefully. I could see the pain in her eyes as she stared at me, and I hoped she could see it in mine too. I had never wanted this to happen, and she wasn't making this any easier for both sides.

I nodded lightly in response, unable to find my voice to speak again, but it wasn't like anything I said would make this any easier. And after sending one last glance in my mother's direction, I took off in a blur and left the apartment through the front door, fearing what would happen if I stayed just one more second in the same room as her.

**Sam's POV**

I laid my plate down in the sink.

I didn't feel like washing it at the moment, and it wasn't like my mother would start yelling at me to do it, anyway. She had gone on a trip to Vegas with her current boyfriend and I had no idea when she would be back.

That didn't make a big difference in my life, though.

I opened the fridge to grab can of soda, intending to just sit on the couch watching reruns of old TV shows for the rest of the night, when I suddenly felt a chill running down my spine as a light breeze brushed against my skin.

I turned around and looked up at the window just above the sink, intending to walk back over to it and close it, when I realized that the window was already closed. I frowned at that, wondering where the light breeze had come from if not from there, but I ended up just shrugging it off and focused my attention back on the fridge right in front of me.

I left the can of soda on the kitchen island and opened a cabinet just beside the fridge, which was where I kept my beloved fat cake stock. I stuffed a good amount of fat cakes in my arms, but just as I was about to grab the soda can and walk back into the living room, I suddenly heard something.

It sounded like someone was in the living room, and I was suddenly on alert mode. Of course, it wouldn't be the first time that someone had broken into my house, but there was something in the air that gave me a really bad feeling about it.

I laid the fat cakes on the kitchen island by the soda can and, as quietly as I could, I slowly pulled a drawer open on my right, from where I got the sharpest and biggest knife I could find.

Nothing happened for a moment, during which I didn't move my gaze away from the kitchen door for even a single second, holding the knife tightly in my shaky hand.

I saw something moving to my left from the corner of my eye, and I looked briefly in that direction, before quickly moving my gaze back to the kitchen door, and what I saw there almost made me jump two feet in the air, my eyes widening in surprise for a second.

There, standing in the doorway, was a man I had never seen before in my life. He was staring at me with a somewhat amused expression on his face, his bright crimson eyes watching me with attention. His eyes were the exact same color I remembered Freddie's to be, and that could only mean one thing…

I swallowed dryly, trying not to show fear, but I knew that I was failing miserably at it. My heart was beating a lot faster than usual, and I knew he could hear it.

"Who are you?" I somehow made myself ask, but I got no response from the mysterious man in return. He seemed to be around nineteen years old and had unbelievably black hair, which only highlighted the red color of his eyes.

The man slowly took one step forward, and out of instinct, I took a step back. He seemed to grow even more amused than before when he noticed that, since a smirk suddenly formed on his lips.

"You're afraid," he commented, the sound of his voice sending another chill down my spine. "That's good. It makes everything much more fun."

Every single cell in my body was screaming for me to get out of there; to run the hell away from that kitchen and from that house, but I knew that trying to do that was completely useless. He was a vampire, which meant that he would catch up with me before I even got to the back door, which was my only way out of the kitchen, since the man was blocking the door that led to the living room.

The vampire started walking toward me, his eyes never leaving my face. I took a few steps back, until I suddenly felt my back being pressed against the wall right behind me.

I was cornered, with nowhere to run to.

The man reached me a few seconds later, and it was just then that I realized I was breathing a lot heavier than usual.

"Now, why don't you put that down?" he asked me, briefly glancing at the knife I was holding out right in front of me, as if the object would really help me at all. A sharp wooden stake would be able to do a lot of damage to a vampire, but an average metal knife? It probably wouldn't even do any damage at all.

As that train of thought crossed my mind, a pretty much desperate idea popped into my head, and even though I knew it probably wouldn't work, I slowly lowered the knife until I was holding it by my side. The man's smirk grew even wider when he noticed that, now coming to stand right in front of me.

"Good girl," he said, eyeing me carefully as he slowly started lifting his hand up…

I suddenly swung my arm through the air as fast as I could, trying to punch the vampire in the face, but his hand shot up in a blur, holding mine midway through the movement with an iron grip that made it impossible for me to move my hand back.

That was exactly what I wanted to happen, though. Just as he grabbed my hand, I quickly swung my other hand in the air, digging the knife into the skin of his neck with as much strength as I could gather. I briefly felt his hot blood covering my fingers, causing a burning feeling on my skin. I ignored it, though, and as soon as the man backed off from me, groaning in pain as he held tightly onto the knife, probably intending to pull it out, I ran past him and out of the kitchen.

That knife might not have been able to do that much damage, considering it wasn't made of wood, but his jugular was still a pretty sensitive spot, and doing what I'd done had indeed bought me some precious seconds.

As I entered the living room, I briefly wondered what my chances of outrunning a vampire were if I tried to leave the house and simply ran away from there as fast as I could.

_None._

The answer instantly popped into my mind, and I quickly ran my way up the stairs, going straight to my bedroom.

I closed the door of my room shut behind me and locked it as soon as I was inside, even though it obviously wouldn't make a difference. I grabbed my cell phone from the nightstand, before quickly typing down and sending the message that might end up saving my life, but that probably wouldn't even make any difference.

And just as I hit send, I heard the man's voice coming from the hallway.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are…" he sang, even though I was sure he knew exactly where I was.

I held my breath in expectation when nothing happened for several seconds, until the door of my room was suddenly pushed with so much strength that it flew open and hit the wall with a loud bang, the doorknob falling on the floor near the doorway.

The man walked inside my room, any hint of amusement that had previously been clear in his eyes just a few minutes ago now completely gone.

He started making his way up to me, and once again, I found myself stepping back until my back was pressed against the wall. He rested his hands on the wall, each one on each side of my head.

The man simply stared at me for a long, silent moment, until he suddenly spoke up. "That was impressive, I have to give that to you, but stupid nonetheless," he started, tilting his head to the side just slightly. "It's a pity I have to kill you, but she wouldn't be happy with me if I let you live…"

I frowned at that, wondering who he was talking about, but I just couldn't find my voice to ask or even say anything at all. I was frozen, helpless.

The man's face suddenly changed, and my breath got caught in my throat. His irises grew black, the white part of his eyes became red and black veins appeared under his eyes, as if pressing themselves against the skin right above them. I instantly remembered seeing the exact same thing happening to Freddie's face the night he told me the truth, but I quickly shoved those thoughts away as I tried to think of a way to get out of this mess I had suddenly found myself in, but deep down I knew there was no point in even trying to do that. I would die, and there was nothing I could do to try to save myself.

The vampire pulled his upper lip back, allowing me to see his fangs as he slowly leaned in, coming closer to my throat at each second that went by, and I simply closed my eyes, waiting for death to come.

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**Author's Note: Okay, that was a pretty intense chapter... And what a great cliffhanger, don't you agree? ;D (I know you all hate me right now XD) I wonder what will happen... Will someone come to Sam's rescue? Freddie, maybe? Or maybe even... someone else? And will it be too late? ;)**

**Thank you all so much for reading! =D**

**I'll try to update soon! ;D**

**And please review! *puppy dog eyes***

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


	23. Chapter 23: Let the Right One In

**Author's Note: I apologize for my lack of updates throughout the past few months for _all_ my stories, not only this one, but my life has been truly crazy this year. My free time is more reduced than ever, and I have no idea how I can even keep my eyes open for longer than a few minutes, considering just how little sleep I've been getting. Nevertheless, I still manage to write a little fanfiction, even if almost nothing, so I must ask you guys to be patient with me.**

**I would also like to thank everyone for your support, since I'm sure that, with this crazy time in my life that I'm going through, I wouldn't continue writing if it wasn't for you guys, so thank you all very much for that.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or The Vampire Diaries or Twilight!**

**Enjoy! ;D**

* * *

Chapter 23: Let the Right One In

**Freddie's POV**

I felt like I needed to be alone for a while, and I could only think of one place where that was even remotely possible at the moment.

It didn't take me long until I was out of Seattle and reached the woods just outside the city, and as soon as I got there, I took those annoying brown contact lenses off my eyes, for I just couldn't take wearing them for even a minute longer.

It was weird how comfortable I felt in the forest, but I guess that whole natural atmosphere was just somewhat calming to me. The silence and stillness that engulfed every single inch of that place was just what I needed right now, since what I was feeling inside was pretty much the opposite of all that, and I could only hope that by being there I would be able to calm myself down, even if just a little bit.

I soon found the trunk of a tree that seemed to have fallen to the ground not too long ago, maybe just a few days, and I took a seat down onto it. The forest had suddenly grown oddly quiet, as though the animals could feel my presence there and tried to hide themselves from me, fearing for their lives at the presence of an unknown predator nearby. I guess that knowledge might have bothered me any other day, but in my current situation, I caught myself welcoming the silence.

Trying to let the calmness of the woods around me help me as I struggled to make myself calm down, I sighed as I thought back at what had happened between me and my mother back at Bushwell, sadness suddenly taking over me.

I just couldn't believe that she had actually considered vervaining me. Of course, the fear and the demand that I left the apartment were both pretty much understandable—I could take Sam's reaction when she found out the truth about me as a perfect example of that—but my mother had handled things a lot differently than how I could have ever expected her to.

The scared look in her eyes just wouldn't leave my mind, no matter how many times I tried to push that image away. I could actually _smell_ her fear in the air, something that most vampires might enjoy when hunting, but that in that moment sent a wave of sadness through me. My mother looked at me like she was some kind of terrified animal looking at the face of a predator that was about to attack; a small, helpless little creature expecting its life to end at any moment as it waited for the threatening killer that stood before them to make their move.

Her thoughts couldn't have been clearer in that moment, not even if she had written them on a billboard for everyone to read. She thought that I would hurt her—or maybe even kill her—for finding out my secret, and as I looked into her eyes, I was able to tell that she didn't feel like she was looking at her own son, but at the face of a strange creature she failed to understand and that she, for that exact same reason, feared greatly.

I just wished she had given me the chance to explain myself, but I guess that was just too much to expect from her at the moment. I remembered that it had taken Sam over three days to actually be ready to hear me out, but this was my _mother. _She was the woman who had taken care of me since the moment I was born, and who had loved me even before then.

But did all those things even make a difference in a situation like this one?

I shook my head, trying to clear up my mind, when another thought occurred to me.

My mother seemed to know a lot more about vampires than any person should. I mean, I was pretty sure you couldn't simply type up the word _vampire_ on Zaplook and a site with all our strengths and weaknesses would just pop up in the screen. She couldn't have simply looked for a way to weaken me and come across the name _vervain_, so how could she have known that by injecting vervain in me—or at least trying to—she would be able to incapacitate me?

That train of thought led me to consider the possibility that she might have already known about the existence of vampires before she found out about me. But how could that be possible? And if that was true, was that previous knowledge the reason why she reacted so badly to my becoming a vampire? Had anything vampire-related happened to her in the past? Maybe—

I was suddenly broken out of my confused thoughts when I felt my phone buzzing inside my pocket. I quickly pulled it out, thinking that maybe it could be my mother, even though deep down I knew it was extremely foolish of me to even consider that possibility, and as I looked down at the screen of my phone, that last thought was proven true, for the name I read on the screen wasn't exactly the one I had been expecting to see.

Sam.

_**Help!**_

That was it, simply it.

I'm not sure what exactly happened next, I just know that in a moment, I was standing in the middle of the forest, and in the other, I had already taken off in a blur, headed to Sam's house, which fortunately wasn't very far from where I was.

**Sam's POV**

My efforts to try to hold the man back as he leaned in toward my neck were proven completely useless in no time at all, since he was unbelievably stronger than me, but it wasn't like I had expected him not to be. He was a vampire, so how could it possibly be any different?

I felt the tip of the vampire's nose brush against the skin of my neck as he breathed in deeply. I closed my eyes, preparing myself for the pain that was surely about to come when he bit me, wishing that he would just get this over with already. How long would it take for me to black out? A minute? Two? Maybe just a few seconds? I wasn't sure; I just wished that while I was still conscious, it wouldn't hurt too much.

But the pain never came.

A loud bang echoed through the room, a sound that resembled the one of wood being broken. Before I could open my eyes or even wonder what that had meant, though, I felt the vampire's breathing hitch against the skin of my neck, and then a low groan reached my ears.

At the sound, I opened my eyes, only to find out that the vampire had, for some reason, fallen to the floor, his hand wrapped tightly around something that had apparently been driven into his side, and as I eyed the object, I realized it was a piece of wood from the now broken door of my room, but that was now nothing more than a pile of broken wooden pieces scattered around the carpet.

I frowned at the sight, wondering how the hell that had happened, but I just couldn't make any sense out of the scene playing right in front of my eyes, no matter how much I tried to.

The vampire soon began to pull the wooden piece out of his flesh, both the piece and his hand completely covered in crimson red blood, and that was precisely when my shock finally seemed to wear off, which allowed me to somehow make my legs move.

I quickly rounded the vampire and began making my way over to where the door of my room had once been, eager to leave that place as fast as possible, since I now might actually have a chance to get away from this vampire, even though that chance was still minimal. However, before I had even taken three steps forward, I felt a breeze brushing against my skin, one a lot more similar to the one I had felt earlier today in the kitchen than I would have been comfortable with.

I froze at that feeling, since it could only mean one thing.

There was another vampire in the house.

If I hadn't already been panicking before, I sure as hell was now. What should I do? How the hell was I supposed to get away from two vampires at once? My heart was racing inside my chest, my thoughts running over a thousand miles per hour. I needed to come up with something fast, or else—

Another loud bang interrupted my current train of thought and I quickly spun around, desperately looking for the source of the sound, only to spot the vampire that had followed me up to my room and had been about to dig his fangs into the skin of my neck just a few seconds ago lying on the floor by the window, looking as if someone had literally thrown him there, sending him flying all the way across the room, only to crash loudly against the wall and fall down onto the floor with a loud thud.

I briefly registered the fact that the piece of wood was gone from the spot where it had penetrated his body and it was now nowhere to be seen, like it had simply vanished in the thin air or something, but as soon as that realization crossed my mind, I pushed it away, considering just how irrelevant it seemed at the moment.

As that useless fact registered itself in my mind, the vampire groaned, lifting his head from the carpet to look at me, and as soon as his eyes met mine, I saw nothing but pure anger in those blood-colored orbs. That was exactly when I knew that he would not hesitate one single second to kill me, unlike how he had acted earlier, a thought that did not make me feel better at all.

Before my brain could even process what was happening, the man was back to his feet, moving so fast that my eyes failed to register it. He simply eyed me for a moment, before springing forward in a blur, his fangs bared once again as a snarl escaped his lips.

But he never reached me.

Another blurry figure quickly made its way past me and crashed right into the murderous vampire, and the next thing I knew was that my savior had the first vampire pinned against the wall to my left, holding my attacker by his throat, and even though all I could see was the figure's back, it took me less than a second to realize who it was.

Freddie.

I could do nothing but simply watch as Freddie hit the back of the other vampire's head against the wall right behind him with enough strength to leave a hole on the wall, before throwing him across the room in a blur.

The other vampire was soon back to his feet, though, but he didn't attack Freddie like I had expected him to. The vampire simply eyed Freddie for a moment, before allowing his gaze to slowly drift over to me, where they lingered for some time. And when he moved his eyes back to Freddie, he was glaring at the second vampire with so much intensity that I felt like running away from that room right then and there.

Freddie didn't even flinch under the other vampire's intense gaze, however. Instead, he simply glared right back, and I had to admit that I had never seen Freddie look so threatening before. The hatred in his eyes was so intense that I was suddenly sure that if the other vampire made the wrong move, Freddie would not hesitate even a single second to kill him.

The vampire eyed us both for another silent moment, as if trying to decide what his next move would be, but he soon seemed to realize what a terrible idea it would be to try to fight Freddie in that moment.

And in a blur, he was gone.

As soon as he was out of sight, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. I also hadn't realized that I had my back pressed against the wall by the doorway until then, my heart racing inside my chest as thousands of thoughts began filling my mind and I struggled to process what had just happened. I didn't have time to think too much about it, though, since Freddie was suddenly standing right in front of me, eyeing me with nothing but pure worry in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Freddie asked me, his voice urgent. I simply nodded in response, unable to find my voice to speak. "Are you sure? He didn't bite you, did he?"

"No," I said, looking down for a moment, for I found it hard to hold Freddie's gaze for too long, considering that the color of his eyes and the one of the other vampire's were exactly the same. "He was about to, but then you showed up," I added, forcing myself to look back up at him, and I instantly noticed just how relieved he looked as soon as he heard that. It was then that I remembered what Freddie had told me the night he had come over to my house to explain himself—about how someone became a vampire—which allowed me to understand why he seemed so relieved. If the vampire had bitten me and not killed me, I'd turn. That thought was just too much for me to handle at the moment, so I hurried to push it to the back of my mind, locking it away for the time being. "You have any idea who that was?" I managed to breathe out, but speaking had suddenly become a nearly impossible task for me.

"No," he replied, shaking his head lightly. "What happened before I showed up?"

It took me a few seconds to be able to respond to that. My mind was still racing, but I somehow managed to force myself to organize my thoughts; or at least enough to be able to answer Freddie's question.

"I was in the kitchen, and he was suddenly there, standing in the doorway," I began, battling against the lump that had formed in my throat and seemed to grow bigger at each word that left my mouth. "He tried to bite me there, but I hit him with a knife in his neck and then tried to run." For some reason, my breathing didn't seem willing to slow down, and neither did my heartbeat. "I ran up here and sent you that text, and then he was here and tried to bite me again, but then… you showed up." I assumed he had been the one to break my door and wound the vampire with the piece of wood, so there was no need for me to tell him about that part.

But just as I finished talking, I remembered something important. "He said he needed to kill me, or else _she_ wouldn't happy with him," I added, my voice coming out just as low as a whisper.

Freddie looked down, probably trying to find some sense in that last part, but just like me, he didn't seem to be making much progress with it. "Who the hell is _she_?" I heard him asking himself under his breath as he shook his head lightly.

"I don't know, but whoever _she_ is, she wants me dead for some reason," I found myself saying, even though Freddie's question wasn't exactly directed at me.

"Do you have any idea why someone would want you dead?" Freddie asked me, looking back up to meet my gaze.

I shook my head in response. "No," I said simply. What else was there for me to say, anyway?

Silence took over us for a long moment, and it was just then that I realized that my right hand was hurting for some reason. I looked down at it, only to notice that the skin on the back of it was red and slightly burnt. I frowned at that, lifting my hand up to take a closer look, but Freddie soon grabbed it and spun it around just slightly, so that way he'd be able to examine it as well.

"What happened to your hand?" he asked, his tone leaving it obvious just how surprised he was by my wounded hand, and honestly, so was I.

"I have no…" I began, shaking my head lightly, but then suddenly realized something. "The blood," I whispered, and Freddie frowned, clearly confused, his eyes practically begging for an explanation. Noticing that, I hurried to explain my abrupt revelation. "When I stabbed the vampire in the neck, I felt his blood dripping onto the back of my hand, and it even hurt a little, but I didn't really pay attention to it in that moment." I briefly glanced down at my hand. "I guess his blood did this."

"It looks like it's…" Freddie shook his head lightly, probably looking for an appropriate word to fill that blank with. "Irritated," he finally said. "The skin looks almost like it was burnt, but not quite."

"It looks like vampire blood causes some kind of… weird reaction when it comes in contact with human skin," I said, struggling to understand exactly what had caused my skin to earn such a red color.

Freddie simply eyed my hand in silence for a moment, his brows furrowed just slightly as he concentrated deeply on the matter at hand. "It's the venom," he announced finally, realization suddenly dawning upon his face. "The concentration of it in our blood is pretty insignificant, but it's still there, and apparently, it's still enough to do that." He indicated my hand as he spoke.

My eyebrows shot up at that, but I soon ended up nodding in response. His explanation did make sense, and I found myself unable to find something better to say than just, "Yeah, that makes sense." I was silent as I eyed my wounded hand for a second, before adding, "I'll take care of it later."

Freddie nodded in response, accepting my words, but said nothing, as though deep lost in thought.

We were both silent for some more time, until I finally made myself speak up again. "Do you think he's gonna come back?" I asked, my voice coming out a lot weaker than I had intended it to, and I hated it. It left it obvious just how scared I truly was on the inside, even though I was trying to look tough on the outside. But given the current circumstances, I guess my image wasn't what I should be worried about at the moment.

"Probably," Freddie replied, and I couldn't stop myself from looking down at the floor right in front of my feet.

I had never been the one to be afraid of anything. I had always been the tough one; the one who could go through almost anything and never turned any kind of dangerous adventure down, but this was just too much. I guess the supernatural was somehow my weakness, since the thought that there was a vampire out there waiting for the next chance he got to kill me filled my insides with panic and fear.

"You're not leaving, are you?" I caught myself asking as I looked back up at Freddie, the words leaving my mouth without my permission. But honestly, for the first time in my entire life, I didn't care if I looked scared or weak.

Freddie seemed surprised for a brief moment, since he probably hadn't been expecting me to ask him to stay, and honestly, neither had I. He quickly covered it up, however, shaking his head in response. "No, I can't leave you alone now," he told me, his words instantly sending a wave of relief through me.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling lightly at him, as if trying to let him see just how thankful I was. "Thank you," I said. "Not just for staying, but for…" I swallowed drily. The happenings of that night still seemed foreign and very surreal in my mind, as though everything I had just gone through had been some sort of terrible dream. "For saving my life," I finished.

Freddie smiled back at me. "You're my friend, Sam," he told me. "How could I have let you die?" The sincerity in both his voice and eyes sent a warm feeling through me, and as I looked into his bright crimson eyes, for the first time since the moment I had found out the truth about him, I caught myself believing that I might actually trust him again someday and that he truly meant those words.

And if I chose not to trust him, what other choice would I have? Freddie had been the one to save my life tonight. If he'd wanted to kill me, he would have done it already, and if he really didn't care about me, then I was pretty sure he would not have even bothered to come to my rescue in the first place.

For a moment, just one single and brief foolish moment, I was reminded of why I had fallen in love with Freddie in the first place. How he seemed to have an effect on me that no one else could even dream about having; how he could make me calm down with only a few words; the sincerity I could see in his eyes; how much he cared for his friends, considering that he had risked his own life tonight to save mine. All those reasons, along with various others, had drawn me to him in a way that I still did not quite understand, and that I had never thought I would ever experience, let alone with Freddie. Of all the guys I could have possibly fallen for, I just had to fall for _him_.

But now I had an even bigger problem in my hands. A few months ago, I had been afraid to face my feelings for Freddie because of my pride, for I just refused to admit that the nerdiest boy on Earth had been able to break all the walls I had built up around myself over the years. It just seemed illogical to me that I, Samantha Joy Puckett, had actually fallen for Fredward Karl Benson. If someone had said anything of the sort to me about three years ago, I would have laughed in their face, but not before punching them in the mouth for being so stupid.

Now, though, things had changed, and my situation had become far more complicated than before. I had somehow come to terms with my feelings for Freddie—at least until a few days ago. If a few weeks ago I had finally admitted to myself that I had actually fallen for a nerd, now I had to try to cope with the fact that I might actually be in love with a vampire. For obvious reasons, once I'd found out about Freddie's vampirism, my feelings for him had not been in the forefront of my mind, but now that all the fear that had followed my discovery seemed to be vanishing gradually as Freddie slowly began to regain my trust, I began to realize that I still felt the exact same way as before about him, vampire or not, and that would for sure be a problem. If I had had close to zero chance of ever being with Freddie while he was still human, now that he was a vampire, any sort of involvement between the two of us would be pretty much impossible. I mean... It would, right?

I tried to push all those thoughts away as I forced myself to speak again before Freddie could realize that there was something else going through my mind at the moment; something that had nothing to do with the fact that I had almost died tonight. "It's just…" I began, but found myself unable to continue. I shook my head lightly, trying to clear up my thoughts. "I'm sorry, I guess near-death situations make me kind of emotional or something," I apologized, though that was something extremely rare for me to do. The last time I had apologized to him had been the night we'd shared our first kiss out in the fire escape so many years ago, so I guess it was no surprise at all just how shocked I was with myself at how smooth and involuntary that apology had been.

Freddie seemed pretty surprised by it as well, but I could tell he tried to cover up his shock. Another emotion seemed to cross his features for a moment, but it was gone before I could even try to identify it.

When he said nothing, I decided to speak again. "I just… I remember having him so close to killing me and the memory just sends a chill down my spine, you know?"

Freddie nodded lightly. "That's completely normal, Sam," he told me, his tone calm, as if trying to comfort me and make me feel better, and surprisingly, it worked, for his words sent a calm feeling through me. It wasn't enough to make me calm down completely, but it did make me feel a tiny bit better. "You almost died tonight. You have every right to be emotional."

I couldn't help but chuckle humorlessly at that. The images of what I had gone through earlier that night seemed unwilling to go away, and I caught myself closing my eyes briefly in an effort to try to steady myself to speak again. "I guess so," I admitted, my shoulders slumping in defeat. "I just wish you hadn't scared me like that, though," I said, suddenly remembering how, even if just for a brief moment, I had believed that I would have to somehow get away from two vampires at once instead of only one. "You really freaked me out."

Freddie's brow furrowed at my words, as though they had confused him greatly. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"How you didn't show yourself at first?" I said, trying to remind him of what he had done. When the confused look he was wearing simply refused to leave the vampire's face, I added, "When you hurt the vampire so I could leave the room, but then blurred past me and scared the hell out of me?"

Freddie simply shook his head, eyeing me with a look that clearly told me he thought I had gone insane or something, which only served to annoy me even more. How could he just not remember all that? I mean, it's not like that was something easy to forget. I hadn't—

I froze, suddenly realizing something, which caused a chill to run down my spine. "It wasn't you," I whispered, my eyes staring off into empty space for a moment, my shock pulling me into some sort of panicked trance.

"What?" Freddie asked, the sound of his voice snapping me back to reality.

I looked back at him, my crystal blue eyes meeting his crimson red ones, only to find him staring me with nothing but clear confusion in those two red orbs. "When the vampire followed me up to my room, he had me cornered, and he was about to bite me, when someone suddenly showed up and thrust a piece of wood into his side," I told him. "And when I was about to leave the room, this someone blurred past me and threw the vampire across the room."

Freddie listened to every word I said in complete silence, and for a moment, I wished I could know what was going through his head, but I found it impossible to read him.

"When the vampire got back to his feet, he was about to attack me again, but then…" I shook my head lightly. "Then you showed up."

It was Freddie's turn to avoid my gaze as he thought about that brand new piece of information I had just given him. He looked deep in thought for what I guessed was the hundredth time since he'd first gotten to this house that night, until he finally shook his head. "Okay, it's official, then," he finally said.

I frowned at his words. "What?" I asked, confused.

His gaze settled back on me. "A vampire broke into your house to kill you, and another one that wasn't me saved you before I got here," he began, as if I needed some sort of confirmation of what had happened to me tonight.

I somehow made myself not look away from him, even though I really wanted to. The intensity of his crimson gaze made my insides practically beg for me to look away, especially because of the resemblance between Freddie's eyes and my attacker's, which I was still struggling to ignore, but I somehow managed to make myself hold his gaze.

Freddie simply eyed me for a few seconds, as if examining my reaction to his words, before finally adding, "I definitely can't leave you alone tonight."

**Marissa's POV**

I had no idea how much time had passed since the moment Freddie had literally blurred out the front door, but I could tell it had been over an hour, and I still hadn't succeeded in trying to make myself stop crying.

His display of supernatural speed had shocked me greatly for some reason, even though I knew I should have expected something of that sort to happen. Now that I thought about it, I realized just how foolish of me it had been to believe that I might actually be able to vervain a vampire like that. Just now I realized the ridiculousness of that idea, but I had been truly desperate, and humans had a tendency of acting irrationally when in situations of despair. Still, the way Freddie had effortlessly gotten out of the way of the needle I had been waving through the air in a more than pointless attempt to hit him, as well as the way he'd been out of the apartment in less than a second, had sent me in some sort of shocked state, for it had been the most concrete proof of my son's vampirisim so far, and it had made this whole situation all the more real in my eyes.

I had never felt so alone in my entire life. When my father died and my brother turned, I still had my mother there by my side, and I knew I needed to be strong for both of us. That responsability had made it possible for me to put myself back together, and even though my mother was just as broken as I was, her presence was still enough to help me built myself up again. When she died, I had already married John, who would in the future become Freddie's father, and he had been there for me when no one else would. When he died in that car accident, I still had Freddie, and he was the reason why I managed to put myself back together once again and live on.

But now, there was no one here. I had lost everyone I had ever loved in my life.

I desperately needed someone to talk to; someone I could open up to about all this; someone to tell me that everything would be fine, even though deep down I knew it wouldn't, but even those empty words would already be enough to make me feel better, even if only a tiny, insignificant bit.

As that last thought echoed inside my head, an unexpected idea crossed my mind, but I quickly pushed it away. It would only make things worse, I was sure of it.

But no matter how many times I tried to ignore that idea, it always managed to sneak its way back into my mind, and as several hours passed, I found myself actually considering it.

I forced myself to stand up from the couch, suddenly making a decision that might only make things even worse than they already were, but honestly, what did I have to lose now?

I quickly made my way to my bedroom and packed up all the things I thought were necessary for spending a few days away from home. It took me over an hour, but I soon found myself standing in the living room, ready to leave.

I knew that even though I had sent Freddie away, he'd show up here eventually, and that thought was pretty much unbearable at the moment. I needed to get out of this apartment as soon as possible, for I knew I was not ready to see him again, and honestly, I wasn't sure if I ever would be.

Keeping that last thought in mind and letting out a sad sigh, I walked over to the front door and exited the apartment, locking the door behind me.

**Sam's POV**

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay down here?" I asked Freddie, who was sitting on my living room couch. "You can stay in the guest room if you want."

He seemed slightly amused by my offer as he shook his head in response. "I'm fine with the couch, really," he told me. "And it's not like I'm sleeping, anyway."

I frowned at him, and guilt suddenly engulfed me, which had once been a pretty foreign feeling to me, but I had been feeling and doing many things I had never experienced before in my entire life tonight. I just could not help but feel guilty for the fact that Freddie was actually willing to spend the whole night awake just to make sure I would be okay. I was about to say something, although I was not sure what exactly, when Freddie spoke again, as if reading my thoughts.

"I don't sleep," he told me.

My eyes widened slightly at his words, silence taking over me for a moment, and when I spoke again, "Oh…" was all I managed to let out. I was shocked to hear that, but I didn't comment on it, mostly because I had no idea what I would say were I to say anything at all in the first place. "Well, uh…" I cleared my throat awkwardly. "I'm tired, so, uh… I'm going to bed," I managed to say. "Well, you make yourself comfortable."

With that, I began making my way to the stairs, and as I climbed up the steps, I heard Freddie laughing lightly at my discomfort, but I chose to ignore it as I made my way to my room.

When I was inside, I moved my hand to the side to close the door, but I then realized that there was actually no door to close. I sighed at that realization, sending a brief glance over to where the pile of wood that had once been part of the now destroyed door of my room lay by the window. Tearing my eyes away from the sight, I calmly walked up to where my bed was, before allowing myself to fall down onto it. I felt my body sinking slightly into the mattress, and I could not stop the flow of images that invaded my mind in the next moment, replaying everything that had happened today inside my head. A vampire had broken into my house and tried to kill me, possibly under the orders of someone we knew as _she_, and if Freddie and the mysterious vampire who had for some reason saved my life hadn't shown up the exact moment they had, I'd be dead right now. And in that very moment, one of those three vampires was sitting in my living room, guarding the house to make sure that I would at least live through the night.

I'm pretty sure that's enough to get anyone shaken up.

I had no idea who was behind that attack, and apparently neither did Freddie, but he seemed intent on figuring that one out. I had no idea how he'd do that, and apparently, neither did him, but I knew I had to trust him on this one, even though that perspective might have seemed completely impossible inside my head earlier that same day. It truly shocked me just how much everything could change in so little time.

I tried to figure out who this _she_ could possibly be, and what could have made her want me dead, but my mind came up blank. I just couldn't recall anyone I had ever done something bad enough to make them want to actually kill me, and most people I had ever pissed off were guys, anyway. So who the hell could this _she_ be?

I sighed in defeat as I forced myself back to my feet before I dragged myself to my bathroom to take a quick warm shower, hoping that it would make me feel better, even though I already knew that wouldn't work.

**Freddie's POV**

About half an hour after Sam went upstairs to her room, I heard her going to bed, but I could tell by her rapid heartbeat and uneven breathing that she was having trouble with falling asleep. But honestly, I shouldn't have expected things to be any different. She had almost died not three hours ago, and even Sam Puckett must get pretty freaked out in a situation like this.

The sound of Sam's heartbeat reached my ears perfectly, coming from the floor above, and I had to do my best to ignore it. When I'd first gotten to her house, it hadn't been hard for me to ignore my bloodlust, for the only thing that mattered in my mind in that moment had been keeping Sam safe. But now that there had been no sign of any unknown vampire for some time, my body seemed to have realized just how close to Sam I was, causing my throat to burn with my apparently unending thirst for her blood. The melody created by the constant beating of her heart was almost hypnotizing, making my mouth water as I found myself, for what I guessed was the hundredth time in the last few weeks, imagining what her blood tasted like, and just how good it would feel for me to dig my fangs into her the skin of her neck...

I shook my head, desperately pushing those thoughts away. I had to focus on something else other than the possible taste of Sam's blood, and much to my relief, it wasn't difficult for me to find something to think about, for the attack was still in the forefront of my mind, and I still had not been able to quite process everything that had happened tonight.

I still hadn't completely calmed down, and honestly, I was doing my best to resist the urge to simply walk out that front door right now and track down the bastard that had dared trying to kill Sam, but I knew that I couldn't leave her alone. What if that vampire wasn't the only one out there? What if the vampire who had tried to kill her had fled like that hoping that I would go after him, when there was another vampire hidden somewhere outside this house, just waiting for me to leave so they could get Sam alone and finish the job?

I must admit I felt extremely glad when Sam asked me to stay, even if her request had truly surprised me. It wasn't like I had been planning to leave her, even if she hadn't said anything, since I would have probably just spent the night outside her house in order to make sure she was safe, but I just had not expected to hear something like that from her. It felt good to know that she trusted me that much now, for I had once thought I would never be able to regain her trust after she'd found about me.

Abandoning that train of thought, I once again tried to understand what could have caused this attack, and for some reason, I could not help but wonder if this whole situation was actually my fault, even if indirectly.

My presence here just had to have something to do with it. I mean, what other reason was there for a vampire to try to kill Sam like this? This wasn't some kind of attack that happened out in the streets, when a vampire looked for a prey and chose the first vulnerable person that was unlucky enough to cross their path. This attack had been planned, and there was a reason behind it; one that was still a mystery to me, but that I was absolutely intent on figuring out.

I was going to find out who was behind all this, no matter what I had to do.

* * *

**Author's Note: I hope this insanely long chapter makes up for the long wait. =P I will not be worrying too much about extremely high word counts anymore, considering that it's been taking me a long time to update. I decided that I should at least keep the long chapters as they are, and not split them up into two parts, like I've done several times before.**

**Thank you all so much for reading! I'll try to update soon! I'm doing my best here, so just be patient with me, please! ;)**

**Review, review, review! ;D**

**xxiCarlyFanxx**


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